Management did not try and gag former technology editor Nick Ross and was merely trying to ensure balanced coverage, departing managing director says

Mark Scott has vigorously defended the ABC from an accusation by a former employee that the broadcaster allowed political pressure to influence its coverage of the national broadband network in 2013.

At a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday the outgoing managing director said the ABC’s former technology editor Nick Ross was experienced in his field and held “heartfelt” views but he became more advocate than dispassionate reporter.

Scott was questioned by senators about the extensive coverage in New Matilda about Ross’s claims he was gagged by ABC management and treated unfairly by Media Watch and senior staff.

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New Matilda said that Ross was “directed by his boss to find any story he could that was critical of the Labor Party’s NBN plan in order to provide ‘insurance’ against attacks on the ABC by the Coalition”.

New Matilda published the transcript of a conversation Ross covertly recorded between himself and Bruce Belsham, the head of the ABC’s current affairs division.

Ross spoke to New Matilda last month after taking redundancy from the ABC. On Tuesday he was live-tweeting Scott’s evidence, calling it “bullshit” and “bollocks”, and defending his coverage of the NBN.

Scott said there was nothing sinister about the conversation Belsham had with Ross. Belsham was simply doing his job in ensuring Ross was giving balanced coverage, Scott said.

“I am aware of the coverage this has been given in New Matilda but I do want to speak to it,” Scott said in his final appearance before estimates before he steps down as the ABC’s managing director in May. “I want to make it very clear that at no time has the ABC sought to shape its coverage in any attempt to gain favour with political parties, nor did it seek to gag Mr Ross.

“What we wanted to do was to ensure that Mr Ross acted in compliance with the editorial policies as they existed at the ABC. That is our responsibility as editorial managers and as required under the ABC Act.

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“I have no ill will to Mr Ross, and I don’t want to be critical of him as he worked at the ABC for a considerable length of time, but there was a disagreement about the role he wanted to play and the role editorial management felt that he wanted to play.

“Mr Ross published an 11,000 word – an 11,00 word – treatise on the NBN, [which was] highly supportive of the Labor plan on NBN [and] highly critical of the Coalition plan on NBN.”

Scott said not only was it unheard of at the ABC – or even in newspapers – to publish an 11,000 word piece but that Ross did not consult with any managers before publishing it. He said Ross’s role was to report and curate, not to write opinion.

Scott said the ABC had no plans to hold an internal inquiry into the Ross affair as he trusted the judgment of Belsham, who was a highly respected journalist and former executive producer of Four Corners.