Doco filmmaker starts petition
Director Inka Stafrace has created an onilne petition to get her documentary Hope in a Slingshot on the air.
Earlier this year, Ronin Films director Andrew Pike said the ABC had withdrawn a formal offer to acquire the documentary – about the Israel-Palestinian conflict – because it conflicted with the public broadcaster’s policy of impartiality.
When questioned about the decision, ABC TV director Kim Dalton emailed Encore the following statement, not once referring to Hope in a Slingshot:
ABC Television exercises complete editorial control over all its content decisions for programs acquired, commissioned or produced for broadcast or publication on its channels and platforms. During the process of content production , commissioning and/or acquisition, programs may be rejected based on the requirements of the ABC channel or platform, funding limitations, or the ABC’s Editorial Policies. All ABC content is required to demonstrate a high level of integrity, standards and values, and decisions about content must reflect the ABC’s independence from political, sectional, and commercial interests.
It’s a tough situation for the ABC.
On any given night, a single news and current affairs story on the middle east can light up the switchboard with half the callers outraged at the blatant pro-Israel bias and the other half infuriated at the pro-Palestinian bias.
On the SAME story.
I haven’t seen Hope in a Slingshot, but for the filmmaker’s sake I hope they find an audience for it. Even if it’s not on the public broadcaster.
Since I would have described the bulk of the western media content we have seen on the issue as tantamount to propoganda, in terms of its omission ot any balancing view, then I fail to understand why a standard previously notable only by its absence is suddently of such overwhelming importance.