ABC defends Fact Check report, maintains Paul Fletcher’s budget claims are ‘misleading’

The ABC has stood by a report from its fact checking unit that concluded Communications Minister Paul Fletcher is misleading in his assertions the broadcaster’s funding is increasing, rather than decreasing.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Fletcher said the RMIT ABC Fact Check unit’s story was “riddled with errors” and “playing games”. But, in a statement addressed to the newspaper’s editors, Fact Check responded that the Herald “did not challenge Mr Fletcher’s unfair and unbalanced portrayal of its contents”.

The Fact Check report concluded Fletcher’s comments were misleading