Abandoning Andy Muirhead: ABC's act of betrayal

This article was published in ABC: The Drum - Unleashed 15 June 2010

The ABC's reaction to the news that one of its employees Andy Muirhead has been charged with an offence allegedly involving child pornography is disturbing on a number of levels.

On Friday the national broadcaster issued a statement indicating Muirhead "will not present the Collectors on ABC TV or the breakfast program on ABC Local Radio in Tasmania pending the outcome of the legal proceedings. The Collectors program will be off air until further notice. Muirhead has taken leave and will not be paid."

This series of actions and the statement itself, have the potential to undermine Muirhead's fundamental and sacred right to the presumption of innocence. Furthermore, they reflect poorly on the ABC's sense of its responsibility to those who work for it. The ABC appears to have put its commercial interests unambiguously ahead of a moral obligation to support one of its own when they are facing the most serious of personal and career threatening allegations.