In an unprecedented display of journalistic integrity, the ABC reportedly completed a full hour of honest reporting after the daughter of a Bondi shooting victim publicly scolded the broadcaster for biased coverage.
Victoria Teplitsky, whose 86-year-old father was shot while fleeing the Bondi Beach attack, appeared live on ABC News Breakfast and demanded that the network cut out the biased reporting and let Jewish Australians have a voice. ABC staff were reportedly left temporarily speechless, as editorial guidelines apparently do not cover being told to tell the truth.
The milestone came just hours before senior ABC journalist Laura Tingle claimed on the Politics Now podcast that the Bondi attackers’ actions “have got nothing to do with religion,” despite the gunmen targeting a Jewish Hanukkah celebration, carrying homemade Islamic State flags, and having been investigated by ASIO in 2019.
Sources say the hour of honesty is the longest in the broadcaster’s history, surpassing the previous record of 47 minutes of factual reporting, set during a live segment on parliamentary procedure in 2013.
Meanwhile, former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg stressed the need for accountability, highlighting intelligence failures and the lack of security at Jewish events. Frydenberg noted that schools, childcare centres, and sporting clubs now require armed guards, warning that words alone will not prevent another attack.
The ABC quietly celebrated the record-breaking streak internally before resuming normal programming, which sources say will likely return to the usual level of “creative truth interpretation” by tomorrow.