The newly powerful Greens leader, Bob Brown, has demanded to know why key ABC television news programs failed to cover his party during the federal election campaign.
Many early predictions showed the Greens set to win Senate balance of power, and a House of Representatives crossbench seat. But Senator Brown said the party went missing from key ABC coverage, prompting him to write to the ABC's director of news, Kate Torney.
The Greens were omitted from the national broadcaster's nightly political news packages out of Canberra, and not interviewed once during the campaign for its current affairs programs The 7.30 Report and Insiders, he said.
He wants comparative statistics of ABC television news coverage for the two major party leaders and himself, plus details of radio air time in Sydney and Canberra.
Senator Brown told a Tasmanian Greens meeting that commercial media could do what they liked, but the ABC had a community focus. ''We got 14 per cent of the vote, but zero per cent of the coverage every night out of Canberra,'' he said.
He told reporters he made no complaint during the campaign and was a great supporter of public broadcasters, but challenged the ABC to justify its actions.
''I'm very happy to debate with the ABC the absence of the Greens in the federal election campaign news packages for the last month. No 7.30 Report. Nothing on its flagship Insiders program. One on its morning program. It was all Gillard and Abbott.''
An ABC spokeswoman said yesterday external monitoring suggested that across all outlets, the Greens received just under 10 per cent "share of voice" compared with the other parties.
This varied from place to place, and from program to program, she said.
''For example, there are relatively few major stand-alone interview slots on programs like Insiders and The 7.30 Report, but many more opportunities for regular comment on radio programs and in daily news.
''Overall, the ABC is satisfied that the share received by the Greens was appropriate.''
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