Impartiality, investigations & oversight

Australia: ABC & media regulator in dispute over “impartiality”

Australia’s public broadcaster has rejected the findings of the media regulator, which claimed that a programme, broadcast last year, “breached its impartiality obligations”. The ABC said that the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s judgement “could have a chilling effect on investigative journalism.” 

The programme in question was an episode of the investigative journalism programme, Four Corners – which has been running since the 1960s – looking at links between the Australian War Memorial and the global arms industry. In its ruling, ACMA said it “unduly favoured one perspective through its presentation of aspects of the Memorial’s redevelopment project”. However, the ABC did not accept this conclusion, and in a statement, said ACMA used “an unworkable interpretation of impartiality and imposes false balance on public interest reporting.” 

ACMA – an independent statutory authority – has the responsibility of investigating broadcasters when it believes it has broken broadcasting law. Earlier this year, it concluded a different episode of Four Corners breached accuracy and impartiality provisions. However, in response to that finding, the ABC said it would publish an editor’s note, and provide training for journalists and managers. To the more recent complaint, however, the ABC said it “stands behind the team, the processes that were followed and the program as broadcast.” ACMA’s chair Nerida O’Loughlin, responded saying “It is disappointing that the ABC chooses to regularly dispute the findings of the regulator when we stand in place of ordinary reasonable viewers in assessing its compliance with its Code.” 

In a separate issue, two further episodes of Four Corners were found to breach editorial standards. The investigation was completed by the ABC’s ombudsman, who concluded that it did not meet the standards for “accuracy, fair and honest dealing and independence and integrity.” The ABC, which had already taken down the episodes after its reporter was sacked for other indiscretions, accepted all seven recommendations outlined in the report. 

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Lithuania: LRT director general under Council’s scrutiny

The director general of the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT, Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė, is under pressure after finding herself at the centre of a dispute over a programme acquisition deal made in 2025. 

According to the General Prosecutor’s Office, the names of individual providers were not disclosed in purchase reports, which infringes on the state and people’s right to know how LRT is using public funds. However, Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė pointed out that the Board itself had previously approved similar procedures and questioned the need to hold the Director General personally liable. “Organisational shortcomings are not necessarily the manager’s shortcomings, because LRT is a large organisation with delegated responsibilities,” Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė’s lawyer told the Baltic News Service. 

The matter – and whether it is to be considered a ‘workplace violation’ – is to be discussed privately by the LRT Council. Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė had called for the issue to be considered publicly, and while some of the council was in favour of a public hearing, it was refused. Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė maintained that the accusations were unlawful, both “procedurally and in substance”, and may damage her reputation and have grave consequences on her position as director general. 

The situation is a potentially challenging moment for LRT. At the beginning of the year, the LRT Act was revised, with one reform meaning the director general could be dismissed on grounds of a serious workplace violation. At the time, there was serious pushback from LRT and from international organisations that the amendments were trying to provide greater allowance for the government to interfere in the broadcaster. 

These concerns are further borne out in a separate issue, whereby a member of the LRT Council was asked to step down from her duties by the Association of Professional Journalists. Laura Matjošaitytė is currently under investigation for undeclared legal services provided to the Nemunos Aušra party (Dawn), one of the main political forces pushing for public media controversial reforms in recent years.

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Bangladesh: Hopes for greater public media independence suffer setback

Hopes for a more independent public media sector in Bangladesh have suffered a setback after a government directive re-affirmed its oversight of Bangladesh Television (BTV).

The appointment of the news presenter, Kazi Jesin, as BTV’s new director-general in early August was welcomed as a potential turning point for the broadcaster. Over the past few years, there were hopes that both BTV and Bangladesh Betar would be granted greater autonomy from the government. Following the overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina administration, the interim government established the Media Reform Commission, which produced a roadmap to granting the broadcasters greater independence. When the new government was elected this year, they made promises to protect press freedom. Yet those hopes have been dampened after BTV’s director-general received a letter from the Ministry of Information.

According to reports, the letter stated that ministerial approval would be required for a wide range of BTV operations, restricting the director-general’s administrative and financial powers. According to the Bangladesh Media Monitor (BDMM), the government will exercise oversight over “staff recruitments, postings, transfers, annual budgets, programming schedules, major equipment purchases, and even public awareness messages published on social media.”

Describing the measures as a serious threat to the broadcaster’s autonomy, BDMM strongly called for the directive to be withdrawn immediately and for the broadcaster’s editorial and institutional autonomy to be fully safeguarded.

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Thailand: Merger touted to solve viability concerns for public broadcasters

The government has rejected suggestions that two of Thailand’s publicly-owned broadcasters could be merged into one entity, as a way of ensuring future viability. According to The Nation, the proposal to combine MCOT and Thai PBS was one of the options on the table put forward by the State Enterprise Policy Office (SEPO), and will be submitted to the Cabinet for their consideration. 

The Mass Communications Organisation of Thailand (MCOT) was founded in 1952, and provides radio, TV and digital services. It is a publicly-listed company that sits under the authority of the prime minister. Thai PBS, meanwhile, is an independent commercial-free publicly-funded media company. According to the report, MCOT has been regularly making losses since 2016, with the SEPO assessing options to return it to a profitable entity. Thai PBS is also dealing with the challenge of rising costs, meaning the broadcaster regularly runs a deficit. 

However, the minister in charge of overseeing MCOT dismissed the plans to merge MCOT with Thai PBS. “Upon making initial inquiries with MCOT executives, she was informed that no notification regarding a merger had been received,” a statement on behalf of the minister said. However, she accepted that change was necessary: “MCOT must draw on all its resources, including its assets, knowledgeable personnel and equipment, and adapt so that it can continue operating securely in a competitive environment.”

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