A former ABC chairman has unleashed on the national broadcaster as outrage grows over the apparent addition of five extra gunshots to footage of an Australian soldier firing at an unarmed Afghan man.
Maurice Newman, 86, says the ABC he chaired for five years until 2012 has become a self-serving collective after an audio expert claimed the extra shots were added to footage featuring former special forces commando Heston Russell.
Last year Mr Russell successfully sued the ABC and two investigative journalists for defamation over stories he claimed gave viewers the false impression that he was under investigation for shooting an unarmed prisoner.
Independent forensic digital audio expert James Raper told Channel Sevens Spotlight that audio of six gunshots had been copied and pasted to footage of a soldier firing at Afghan villagers in a 2022 ABC story about alleged war crimes.
The broadcaster said it has removed the online video where an error has been identified, based on preliminary inspection of the audio.
Mr Newman said that the latest revelation of doctored audio in an ABC report vindicates what he has been saying for a very long time.
The ABC is a self-serving collective, which doesnt let the truth stand in the way of a good story, the former chairman told the Herald Sun.
(It) has become the shameless megaphone of the Left and operates in defiance of its act, its charter, its editorial policies and the interests of a cohesive society.
Former ABC chairman Maurice Newman has accused the pubic broadcaster of becoming a self-serving collective and shameless megaphone of the left in recent years
Original helmet-cam video from the 2012 incident in Afghanistan shows a single warning shot about to be fired from a military helicopter - but in the ABC version five extra shots are heard
Veteran journalist and broadcaster Neil Mitchell joined a chorus of voices demanding the ABC justify the apparent lapse in journalistic standards.
These allegations of the ABC doctoring Afghanistan video are most disturbing. If true, heads must roll, Mitchell tweeted on Monday.
ABC is accused of super imposing gun shots over vision to make it more dramatic. That if it happened is a massive breach of trust and ethics.
They need to answer this quickly.
Stu McCarthy, a former army officer who had deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq during his 30 years of service, called for there to be serious consequences for what he called junk reporting.
I watched those stories when they first aired several years ago, he told the Daily Telegraph.
I immediately called them out as junk - it was clear they were junk stories back then. Based on what I saw on Channel 7 last night they were worse than junk - they were grotesque fabrications.
Oppositions spokesperson for Education Sarah Henderson, who is a former ABC journalist, said the public broadcasters culture has been called into question.
The ABC has very serious questions to answer, Ms Henderson said.
There is something very rotten at the ABC which allows such shockingly false allegations to see the light of day.
There must be a full investigation into this matter including claims a video was doctored.
In October 2023, former special forces commando Heston Russell (pictured) won his defamation case against the ABC after a Federal Court judge ruled it could not prove articles it published were reported in the public interest
A spokesperson for Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said Australians expect the public broadcaster to conduct itself with transparency and accountability.
But as with any media organisation, the ABC doesnt always get it right. The ABC is committed to continuous improvement including through its complaints handling processes, the spokesperson said.
Mr Raper told Spotlight he compared the ABCs 15-second video showing six gunshots being fired from a helicopter to original footage from a soldiers helmet.
He said the evidence pointed to audio of extra shots being copied and pasted from a different clip and applied to video of a single warning shot being fired.
It completely misrepresents what those soldiers were going through that day, the audio expert told the program.
The ABC told Spotlight it was seeking more information on how this occurred.
(ABC investigations editor) Jo Puccini, Mark Willacy and Josh Robertson had no role in the production and editing of the online video you have brought to our attention, it said in a statement.
Any suggestion that they have acted inappropriately or unethically is completely false.
Veteran journalist and broadcaster Neil Mitchell (pictured) said the ABC has serious questions to answer about the video
In late 2012, Mr Russell was commander of November Platoon in Afghanistans Helmand province, which was a Taliban stronghold.
Footage from the operation showed a gunner on the same helicopter Mr Russell was on firing a warning shot at a man who just minutes earlier had been firing at Australian soldiers.
This guy had literally just been on the back of a motorbike with his mate shooting at two of my teams that were on the ground, Mr Russell said.
Asked why the Afghani man had not been shot dead, Mr Russell said: The majority of our missions derive their greatest value from capturing insurgents.
After the warning shot, this insurgent has run into a compound and the drone has witnessed him bend over and pick up something, hes picked up something that looks like a weapon, he continued.
And youll hear me telling my soldier, shoot him, shoot him. If we listen closely, youll hear that, then youll see. Thats the footage of my guy shooting at him in the compound.
Following the warning shot, the Afghani man appears to be no longer armed when he was next sighted.
My signaller sees him, sees hes unarmed and instead of shooting after Ive already authorised him to fire, (he) actually tells him to stop and get down, Mr Russell said.
Former commander Heston Russell is seen at the NSW Federal Court in July, 2023
The footage showed the reaction of an American soldier on board, throwing his hands up in question.
Knowing full well that Ive authorised him to kill him, Mr Russell said.
My soldier could have got a kill up, could have got a notch on his belt.
But instead my soldier made the decision to save a life... knowing were going to land and try to go capture this guy.
In October 2023, Mr Russell won his defamation case after a Federal Court judge ruled the ABC could not prove articles it published were in the public interest.
Those stories, written and produced by journalists Mark Willacy and Josh Robertson, aired on television, radio and online in October 2020 and on November 19, 2021.
The defamation case is estimated to have cost taxpayers up to $3.5million in legal fees on top of the almost $400,000 in damages paid to Mr Russell.
The shooting sequence was not part of the defamation case taken by Mr Russell as the story about it was published by the ABC during his trial.