The ABC board has appointed media executive and former Coalition adviser Fiona Cameron to the new role of ABC ombudsman.
The new role was recommended by an independent review which found the public broadcaster’s internal complaints unit was “efficient” but could benefit from the addition of someone to handle appeals and reviews .
The ABC commissioned former Commonwealth ombudsman John McMillan and former SBS and Ten head of news Jim Carroll to carry out the review last year. This followed high-profile complaints about TV shows Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire, Ms Represented, Inside the Canberra Bubble on Four Corners and Q+A’s Trauma and Truth Telling.
Cameron will head an expanded ABC editorial complaints unit and will have the power to review the finding of a complaint. The ombudsman will report to the board, not the managing director.
Cameron’s most recent role was as an authority member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma), and she was previously chief operating officer of Screen Australia for a decade.
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She was previously chief of staff and media adviser to former communications minister Richard Alston, a strong critic of the ABC.
Jonathan Holmes, a former ABC journalist, has warned that keeping the ombudsman separate from editorial management by having them report to the board rather than the chief executive is highly unusual.
Ita Buttrose, chair of the ABC, says the new ombudsman role will help strengthen existing complaints handling processes.
“We already have the highest standards of complaints handling of any Australian media organization and Fiona’s appointment will help us maintain those standards,” Mr Buttrose said.
ABC managing director David Anderson said Cameron’s appointment would help the broadcaster maintain its strong bond of trust and confidence with audiences.
“The CBA’s ombudsman will be key to maintaining the high standards Australians know and expect from the CBA,” Mr Anderson said.
Cameron said: “This is an important and challenging role and reinforces the ABC’s commitment to its audience. I’m really looking forward to getting my feet under the desk and grappling with all the multiple and varied issues.”
The ombudsman role adds to the existing two-tier model of internal complaints handling and external review by the media watchdog Acma.
The complaints review was commissioned by the ABC board in October 2021.
Shortly after the review was announced, the ABC’s five-person complaints unit came under fire from Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, who sought to set up a government-led inquiry. Buttrose called the move “political interference” and it was rejected by Labor and the Greens in the Senate.
“The ABC gets to mark its own work and as an organization paid for by the taxpayer I think there should be extra scrutiny,” Bragg told Sky News last year.
Cameron will start at the end of September.