Furious ABC staff have walked off the job to protest the treatment of outgoing Q+A host Stan Grant.
Online arts editor Dee Jefferson confirmed Monday afternoon’s walkout in a tweet.
“ABC staff are walking out in support of Stan this afternoon,” she wrote.
“Stan’s experience of racist abuse is shared by so many colleagues. Listening is the smallest part of what we can do to help clean up this mess.”
Presenter Casey Briggs and Triple J Hack reporter Kimberley Price also posted updates to social media
Grant is stepping away from his Q+A gig this week, citing exhaustion with persistent racial abuse.
“On Monday night I will present my Q+A program, then walk away. For how long? I don‘t know,” he wrote in an opinion piece published by the ABC on Friday.
His snap decision leaves the ABC scrambling to replace the Indigenous journalist. The Australian reported on Monday that RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas will be a temporary stand-in, with ABC Radio Melbourne’s Virginia Trioli also among the named potential replacements.
Karvelas and Trioli also showed their support for Grant on Monday, both tweeting using the hashtags “#istandwithstan and #werejectracism”.
They were joined by Insiders host David Speers.
“Racism is abhorrent. I stand with my friend and colleague Stan Grant,” he tweeted.
Tweet from @David_Speers
Trioli said she had been bombarded with abuse for declaring her support for Grant.
“I tweeted in support of Stan on Friday night and, as well as those expressing dismay at the disgusting racism that he’s been subjected to, I then also received messages that were racist, offensive,” she said on her morning radio show.
“It is appalling that Stan Grant has been targeted the way that he has been.”
ABC managing director David Anderson apologised to Grant, after the host accused the broadcaster for failing to publicly support him throughout his ordeal.
“Stan Grant has stated that he has not felt publicly supported. For this, I apologise,” Mr Anderson said on Sunday.
“The ABC endeavours to support its staff in the unfortunate moments when there is external abuse directed at them.”
Tweet from @_kimberleyprice
The ABC will review its response to racism affecting staff, in line with a recommendation from the ABC’s Indigenous advisory committee.
In an email to staff, Mr Anderson said anti-ABC reporting from some commercial media outlets had been “sustained and vitriolic”.
“This has real-world consequences for ABC presenters and journalists who are personally attacked and vilified,” he wrote.
“The ABC endeavours to support its staff in the unfortunate moments when there is external abuse directed at them.”
Also on Monday, federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers condemned the abuse and relentless trolling that led to Grant’s decision.
Dr Chalmers said he was saddened to learn Grant had been forced out after a torrent of abuse over his input during the public broadcaster’s coverage of the coronation of the King=.
“It’s a really sad situation,” Dr Chalmers told ABC TV on Monday.
“I have come to know Stan a bit from being on his Q+A show and I respect him and I think it’s really sad and really unfortunate that the trolls and the keyboard warriors are silencing a really important voice in our community.”
Dr Chalmers said Grant deserved more respect than he’d been shown.
Meanwhile, SBS’s National Indigenous Television Network said on Sunday it would take a break from Twitter to take a stand against racist abuse online.
“You may have noticed we haven’t been using Twitter much lately, we’ve decided to take a break from it,” NITV said in a statement.
“We’ve had enough of the racism and hate that we see and experience every day on this platform.”
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-with AAP
