Australian PM Abbott blasts national broadcaster ABC as ‘unpatriotic’
Tony Abbott lashes out at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for reporting on NSA spying revelations and maltreatment of asylum seekers by the Australian Navy
Prime Minister Tony Abbott launched a scathing attack on national broadcaster ABC on Wednesday, accusing it of taking “everyone’s side but Australia’s” in coverage of asylum-seekers and the Edward Snowden leaks.
His comments follow government criticism of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation late last year after it broke a story about Australian spying on Indonesia, which sparked a major diplomatic crisis.
More recently, the conservative leader has been unhappy with ABC’s reports about asylum-seekers’ claims they were tortured by the Australian navy during an operation at sea.
“It dismays Australians when the national broadcaster appears to take everyone’s side but Australia’s and I think it is a problem,” Abbott told commercial radio station 2GB.
“You would like the national broadcaster to have a rigorous commitment to truth and at least some basic affection for the home team, so to speak,” the prime minister said.
The ABC, together with Guardian Australia, late last year ran allegations in leaked documents from US intelligence fugitive Snowden that Australia had spied on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife in 2009.
“The ABC seemed to delight in broadcasting allegations by a traitor, this gentleman Snowden,” Abbott said.
