The ABC says it did not broadcast a story about Adani for sound editorial reasons and not because the company spokeswoman telephoned its news director Gaven Morris.

Guardian Australia asked the ABC why a story by radio current affairs reporter Isobel Roe had not been broadcast and if it had anything to do with a direct call made by Adani spokeswoman Kate Campbell to Morris.

“There was no complaint,” an ABC spokeswoman told Guardian Australia.

“The only communication we received from Adani was a request for more time to respond to our questions. In light of the need to provide parties with a fair opportunity to respond and the strength of the other stories in the mix for Saturday AM, the decision was taken at an editorial level to not proceed with the story.”

ABC sources said Roe was preparing a report for Saturday AM on Friday 24 May which looked at the economics of Adani’s Carmichael mine.

But after calling Campbell for a response, the spokeswoman called Morris directly. Roe was later told by her managers not to proceed with her report.

I honestly don't understand why we have had nearly ten years of pretending that the Adani Carmichael mine is viable.



Here's some really simple maths explaining why it just doesn't stand up financially:



1. Plan is for a 10m ton per year mine, rising to 20mtpa — David Fickling (@davidfickling) May 22, 2019

The story Roe was following up was by Bloomberg reporter David Fickling, who argued in a series of tweets that the economics of the Carmichael mine “don’t stack up”. Fickling later had a piece published in the Australian Financial Review on the subject.

“Adjusting that for the cost of transporting the coal to port on third-party networks comes to about $US50 a ton of operating costs, or $US500 million for the whole project, enough to leave $US160m of gross profit,” Fickling wrote.

The heavy-handed tactics by Adani follow revelations in Guardian Australia the company lodged several Freedom of Information requests about ABC reporters who had covered Adani projects.

ABC investigative reporters Mark Willacy and Michael Slezak were asked for documents relating to news reports on allegations Adani was illegally drilling bore holes.

These requests were made by Adani lawyers AJ & Co, and follow revelations they planned to confront Adani critics including activists and journalists by acting like “a well-trained police dog”.

Most of the FOI requests were denied and the only documents that were released were Willacy and Slezak’s travel and accomodation costs and some heavily redacted phone logs.

The ABC’s Media Watch also investigated the spiking of Roe’s story and spoke to staff who overheard conversations about it in the ABC’s Sydney newsroom.

“Sorry. It’s nothing to do with you, but we’re not going to be able to run this,” was one conversation reported by Media Watch on Monday night.

“It’s not my decision, it’s come from on high,” was a second conversation reported by the program.

Despite the ABC’s claim there was “no complaint” Media Watch says Adani told them they did complain about Roe’s story before it was broadcast.

“… we raised concerns with ABC management when approached to comment on a story that contained inaccuracies and was potentially biased,” an Adani spokesperson told the ABC.

Media Watch host Paul Barry said the spiking of the story “sends a terrible message to ABC journalists trying to do their job and also to ABC viewers who trust the ABC to give frank and fearless coverage of matters of public importance”.