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ABC defends Q&A tweets

ABC defends tweets which have raised questions about whether they should have been broadcast.

2014-10-14_1536ABC has defended Q & A tweets which appeared on its show last night when Catherine McGregor, Speechwriter to the Chief of the Air Force, spoke about her transgender history.

In a discussion on traditional masculinity, femininity and political correctness said, “I’ll settle for being dealt with respectfully in my affirmed gender now that I’ve come out. I was called a boy for a long time. I was called a lot worse, actually, too, and I just don’t know that it would have helped me. There may be some people who have felt incredibly conflicted by that language. It didn’t – you know, I transitioned quite late in life and had functioned as a male for a darn long time and I had far worse stuff said to me from first slip when batting at cricket, you know. Like, ‘How is your wife and my kids?’ for instance and so I’m not worried about having being called a boy when I was in whatever.”

During her discussion Q & A broadcast several tweets, some supportive but two which were branded as ‘transphobic’ on social media:

“Wow, he/she is a hero #QandA,” @geoffgcooper.
“God sets our gender, we shouldn’t interfere #qanda,” @secadvisers

An ABC spokesperson told Fairfax, “We believe the tweets you identify meet those guidelines and were appropriate for broadcast.

Q&A‘s on-screen tweets are selected through a multistage moderation process to provide an alternative layer around the studio discussion based on the commentary of viewers on Twitter.

“The tweets are chosen to reflect the diverse range of opinions in the Q&A audience.

“They are not expected to always be in agreement with the views of the panelists, but are expected to fall within our guidelines.”

Q & A tweets undergo several stages of moderation by production staff to ensure they comply with guidelines:

We reserve the right to hold and/or remove contributions that:

• Are offensive and/or disruptive
• Are unlawful, defamatory, threatening, and/or discriminatory
• Advertise and/or endorse commercial products
• Contain personal details
• Contain spam
• Include unsuitable URLs
• Are off-topic
• Breach copyright
• Breach contempt of court laws
• Breach defamation laws
• Impersonate other message board users
• Are racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually explicit, abusive or otherwise objectionable
• Breach ABC Online Terms of Use.

But it’s not the first time the show has come under scrutiny for its tweets.

In 2011 ABC apologised for airing the tweet: “Just me or does (Christopher) Pyne light up when he’s talking about men in uniform?”

In 2012 it had to delete a harmless tweet submitted by “smell_mike_hunt.”

Last year it flashed a tweet about Rex Hunt being a “fan of the hook up culture” while in June another tweet suggested many of the senior panel should all be in bed.

The show attracts around 20,000 tweets per episode.

6 Responses

  1. At its best (i.e. when it isn’t hijacked by politicians, or ill-behaved protestors), Q&A provides a mainstream forum to discuss social issues, and sparks discussions that extend into the next day’s commercial media coverage.

    By airing the tweets, the ABC has triggered a public discussion of Transphobia, a discussion that has now extended 24hrs beyond the program’s airing. Along the way, they’ve educated thousands of non-Q&A viewers about the discrimination and insensitive treatment that people like Catherine McGregor face every day.

    University-educated commentators can continue to criticize the tweets in isolation, and chastise the ABC for airing the views of community members whom those commentators would rather pretend didn’t exist, but the initial ‘shock’ of seeing the tweets on screen is far outweighed by the public discussion that the tweets have sparked.

    If…

  2. For what it’s worth I rarely watch Q&A but what’s wrong with ABC displaying a range of opinions? We don’t have to agree with them. That’s what having freedom of speech means.

    And really if only two out of the many more that are shown are highlighted as potentially offensive then is that really worth the keyboard outrage.

    If the ABC is only to display tweets or messages of a single viewpoint or be the utmost of political correctness then they are not doing their job of being an impartial broadcaster.

  3. I think #QandA do a really good job of selecting the Tweets. They always show a very diverse range of opinions. Much better than the block or MKR etc, that just show ones that agree with whatever is going on.

    I cant tell you how many times I’ve read one on the block saying “Wow, that room is stunning”
    So bland.

  4. Gender is flexible and socially-informed! Yes, we are born with particular sex organs, but gender is adapted, not inherent!

    I just think “God sets our gender, we shouldn’t interfere” is a weak way of putting that argument across. It’s in no way critical or articulate. So why broadcast it, when there are other opposing views that are better phrased.

    I guess QandA is doing us a favour by highlighting the weaknesses of those arguments.

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