The ABC has refused to publish an opinion article by women’s sex-based rights campaigner Sall Grover, despite a senior editor describing the piece as “very, very good”, in what has been condemned by Grover as “confirmation of ideological capture” at the national broadcaster.
The rejection came despite Grover exchanging 37 emails over the course of more than three weeks with ABC Editorial Director Gavin Fang and Religion & Ethics Editor Scott Stephens, and extensively redrafting the article twice in an attempt to meet the ABC’s requirements for publication.
In rejecting the opinion piece, Stephens cited “pervasive inaccuracies” in Grover’s presentation of the Sex Discrimination Act and Giggle v Tickle, and “overstatement” about the extent to which changes to the Act present a threat or danger to women and single-sex spaces.
However, Stephens did not explain what these inaccuracies were, and Grover was never shown the “significant rewrite” Stephens claimed he had done to address them.
Stephens had earlier stated that Grover’s use of language such as “biological fact”, “truth” and “material reality” was a “problem” because of the “high likelihood of alienating and offending the very people I would imagine you are hoping to convince”.
The Australian put extensive questions to the ABC, including asking for specific editorial reasons for declining publication; which ABC staff other than Stephens had been involved in the decision; whether the ABC objected to Grover describing trans women as male, or women as adult human females; why using terms such as “biological fact”, “truth” and “material reality” was a “problem”; whether the ABC had an obligation as a matter of editorial fairness to offer Grover a right of reply to Gerber’s controversial assertions; what the “inaccuracies” were in Grover’s presentation of the SDA and Giggle v Tickle; and why Grover was never provided with Stephens’ “significant rewrite” of her draft which ostensibly addressed the “inaccuracies”.
An ABC spokeswoman provided a response which failed to directly address most of these questions.
Source: ABC rejects Sall Grover op-ed despite editor’s praise | The Australian
2 men at the ABC making decisions about women’s safety and women only spaces. Bloody typical