How could the ABC get a report so right and so wrong at the same time?

That’s the question the bitter, washed-up, old hacks who compile this column posed after watching the 7pm ABC Queensland report last night (Thursday) on the decision by the Chrisafulli Government to expand the terms of reference for a commission of inquiry originally tasked with looking only at alleged bullying by the CFMEU in the state’s building industry.

That was the hub of the story and newsreader Jessica van Vonderen kicked it off professionally and accurately with this: “The Queensland Government’s commission of inquiry into the CFMEU will be widened so it also covers the broader construction industry.”

She explained that this followed the call by the CFMEU administrator for such a broader look by federal and state government, claiming widespread crime and corruption in the sector.

So far so good, right?

Why, then, did reporter Jack McKay get it so wrong with this off-camera introduction: “Pressing on and widening the net over the CFMEU…”

Makes it sound like the union on its lonesome is now in more poo than many thought, doesn’t it? Surely McKay should have used “beyond’ rather than “over”?

Or was he swayed by the on-camera piece that followed from Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie who put union-bashing ahead of an open and honest explanation of what was taking place: “The Chrisafulli Government will expand the terms of reference to include criminal gang links within the CFMEU.”

Wrong! And pointedly one-sided to boot. We can’t blame Bleijie for distorting reality for propaganda purposes – he is, after all, only a politician and not a trained, balanced, objective journo – but what’s McKay’s excuse?

And while no news platform can be blamed for what someone sprouts on air, why give Bleijie’s inaccurate line oxygen anyway, if it appears a far more accurate comment from Bleijie was available.

A separate ABC online story posed online mid-afternoon yesterday from state political reporter Alex Brewster quoted Bleijie thus: “The government will expand the terms of reference in the royal commission to investigate the revelations today of criminal gangs infiltrating the building industry in Queensland and the CFMEU.”

AND the CMYEU!

Was there not time for McKay and his editors to reshape their own offering for a 7pm bulletin? Maybe not. And think we’re being a little too tough on McKay in particular and Aunty in general? Maybe. It’s true that his report does repeat the claims and suggestions by the CFMEU administrator that maybe both sides on a construction site may possibly be as naughty as each other and a narrow focus on the construction union alone was unfair.

But for anyone who lost interest in that report half-way through, a wider net being thrown over a union and no-one else and that a commission’s blowtorch dial had been turned up on that union’s activities and no-one else could easily be all they might remember.

Over where beyond should have been used. Words – each and every one of them and their meaning – are still important in journalism, right?

Using politically biased commentary from a pollie when a far-more accurate comment from him was most likely available? Not a good look.

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