ABC caught in Chinese diplomacy controversy

John Lewis, producer of the controversial documentary The 10 Conditions of Love, hopes that the ABC will air the documentary soon and laments that Chinese pressure is making his doco ‘unsellable’.

“I’ll be very clear about this. I can simply say I hope that [a diplomatic reason] is not the case,” Lewis told Encore.

At a time when the ABC views China and India as important markets for the Australia Network, the decision to postpone broadcast of the documentary indefinitely could be seen as giving in to diplomatic pressure from China, but ABC MD Mark Scott told Radio National that such suggestions were “ludicrous” and he was “looking into it” and expected the film to air sometime this year, “sooner rather than later”.  ABC corporate communications director Mark Millett denied that this was a diplomatic issue.

Encore contacted the ABC for comment, but we were referred to a transcript of Scott’s interview on Radio National, and the link to an audio recording.