ABC Ombudsman dismisses Nine newspaper complaint about Media Watch Red Alert segment

SMH editor Bevan Shields accused ABC’s Media Watch of failing to adhere to the ‘most basic standards of journalism’ over the Red Alert series. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

ABC ombudsman, Fiona Cameron, has dismissed a complaint from the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age that a Media Watch segment on its China “Red Alert” series was “highly biased and failed to give a right of reply”.

Last month, the Nine-owned mastheads published a three-part series with the headline: “Australia faces the threat of war with China within three years – and we’re not ready”.