User:Tuntable/Q&A (Australian talk show)

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Zaky Mallah is an Australian who has been charged but found not guilty under Australia's new anti-terrorism laws. In 2015 the Abbott government proposed controversial changes to Australian citizenship laws to make it possible for Australian citizens to be stripped of their citizenship if they are involved in terrorism.

Mallah appeared on the ABC's Q&A program on 22 June 2015, putting a pre-approved question to Steven Ciobo asking the possible outcome of his case if it had been heard by a government minister instead of the Supreme Court. Steven Ciobo said that he was unaware of the details of Mallah's case, but that he would be personally pleased if Mallah was out of the country. Mallah responded that he would be pleased to see Ciobo removed from Australia.

Q&A's host Tony Jones later directed Mallah to comment on the panel discussion, and Mallah responded that Ministers like Ciobo pushed some Muslims to extremism. Jones immediately ruled the comment out of order.

PM
Prime Minister Tony Abbott strongly criticised the ABC for "giving Mallah a platform" saying that that "heads should roll". He asked "Which side is the ABC on?" and said that the ABC "betrayed" Australia He further criticised the rebroadcast of the program. A government inquiry into the episode was announced.

ABC Response
The ABC released a statement apologising for including Mallah on a live event, and the ABC board issued a formal warning to Q&A executive producer Peter McEvoy under misconduct provisions of the ABC's industrial agreement. The board also appointed Shaun Brown and Ray Martin to audit Q&A.

Mark Scott, managing director of ABC, gave a speech defending the programme but conceded it was a mistake to allow Mallah to appear on live television. Scott said it was important to allow people to “express views that run contrary to accepted public values” as part of free speech. “We still need to hear in order to gain insight into thinking, into motivation. To understand the root cause of behaviours and actions that we might find confronting and alarming, or worse.” Responding to the Tony Abbot's question as to "which side the ABC is on", Scott said that the ABC was an independent public broadcaster and was thus on the side of the Australian people. It was not a state broadcaster that only represented the views of the government of the day.

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Press Coverage
Substantially negative coverage of the ABC's conduct appeared in News Corporation owned papers, with some changing the ISIL flag to an ABC logo. The Daly Telegraph ran the headline "ABC doing the devil’s work...". The Australian siad "ABC exists in a parallel universe where impartiality and sound judgment are all but redundant".

Media coverage has also been directed to Mallah's past comments on Twitter and You tube that journalists Rita Panahi and Miranda Devine should be "gang banged" (not "gang raped" as was often reported). The producers of Q&A have stated that they were unaware of Mallah's tweets and they would not have allowed Mallah on the program if they had known. Little corresponding criticism has been made of past comments of the panelists themselves. In particular, to Minister Ciobo's statement that Julia Gillard would "have her throat slit", or Grahame Morris (another panelist on that evening) statements that Labor lawyers should "kick Julia Gillard to death" and that ABC reporter Leigh Sales is a cow.

Other Comentators
Other commentators have defended the ABC. Peter Greste said that Tony Abbot attempted to shut down debate in a crucial area of policy. Johnathan Holmes said that Malcolm Turnbull's portrayal of Zaky Mallah and his views is profoundly misleading, and that Q&A has been prevented from defending itself. Richard Ackland has suggested that "the hysteria over Zaky Mallah on Q&A would make Joseph McCarthy proud".

Mallah went on to debate Waleed Aly on The Project and published an opinion piece in The Guardian's Comment is free. Mallah defended his statement that some young Australian Muslims feel targeted by this government, and that the Abbott government's counter-terrorism agenda radicalizes some young people. He said that having "been there, done that", he knew how some young Muslims look at the world. Mallah also said he was not acquitted of terrorism because of a technicality as asserted by Ciobo, but because he had been "dumb and naive" and allowed police to entrap him but was found not be a threat by a jury.

Boycot
Tony Abbot has told other front bench ministers to boycott the Q&A program.