The ABC will edit the National Press Club (NPC) address of United Australia Party (UAP) chairman Clive Palmer before it’s broadcast on television if the speech does not meet the public broadcaster’s editorial standards.
The NPC is hosting Palmer’s speech titled “The Australian economy: where it is heading and the financial policy of the UAP” on Tuesday.
Traditionally, both the ABC and Sky News Australia broadcast NPC speeches live on television.
However, the ABC has made an unusual editorial decision to broadcast Palmer’s NPC speech on delay because of his and his party’s anti-vaccine views.
Palmer has spent millions of dollars promoting medical misinformation as part of his party’s election campaign against vaccines. On advertising, he’s already spent $31.3 million since August 1, 2021 — more than one hundred times the spend of the major parties — according to Nielsen figures obtained by Nine papers.
The party is also the vehicle for people holding more extreme views. On Monday, Guardian Australia reported one of the UAP candidates for the House of Representatives appeared to say “hang Dan Andrews” at a rally captured on video.
In response to questions about Palmer’s address, a spokesperson for the ABC told Crikey that in addition to being broadcast with a delay, any content in Palmer’s address “inconsistent with the standards may be edited”.
They said the audience would be informed of any edits made by the public broadcaster to the NPC address.
Neither the National Press Club nor Sky News immediately responded to Crikey about what they would do to avoid platforming medical misinformation during the address.
‘The NPC is pay day’
Queensland University of Technology senior lecturer Dr Timothy Graham, whose research has focused on the spread of misinformation, says the decision about whether — and how — to broadcast something like Palmer’s National Press Club address is a vexed one for the mainstream media.
On one hand, he concedes there’s a strong argument to broadcast Palmer since the NPC has a stated mandate to platform influencers and decision-makers in Australia to shape public debate.
But, Graham says, it’s likely that Palmer will use this attention to promote his anti-vaccine policies and to sow anti-establishment narratives about the major parties. He was unsuccessful in electing anyone in 2019, but in 2022, he has the benefit of highly mobilised anti-vaxxine, anti-lockdown protestors who have been activated by the pandemic.
“Speaking at the iconic NPC lends him and Covid disinformation legitimacy – is that what we want?” Graham asked.
Graham compares the strategy and rhetoric to style of former US president Donald Trump. Trump’s rallies sparked a debate over cable television networks’ decisions to broadcast them live because of his penchant for lies, bigotry and conspiracy theories. Beginning with Trump’s presidential campaign and throughout his presidency, the networks generally shifted from broadcasting them live to sharing edited clips.
Like Trump, journalists and editors must make tough choices about amplifying false or misleading information and actors like Palmer.
“[Clive Palmer] is buying his way into the election through amplification and repetition. The NPC is pay day,” Graham finished.
