Refugee boat controversy left everyone with burnt fingers One of the asylum seekers with burns allegedly caused by Australian naval officers. The Abbott government should not tell the ABC what news is fit to report in the public interest. Most Australians value the national broadcaster's independent, quality journalism. The ABC does not have to be patriotic. The Herald believes Tony Abbott's intervention to attack the ABC's journalistic performance was an unwarranted attack on a free media. This week the Prime Minister seized on the ABC's treatment of assault allegations against Australian navy personnel by asylum seekers, alleging the ABC "instinctively takes everyone's side but Australia's" and "you ought to be prepared to give the Australian navy and its hard-working personnel the benefit of the doubt." Politics should never influence decisions about when it is in the public interest to publish. The ABC is accountable to its board, not politicians, and ultimately to the Australian public, which pays its bills. And of course the public and the government are right to demand the ABC closely scrutinise outlandish claims and not give them prominence beyond their credibility. To that end, the ABC's handling of the "burnt hands" claims was at times boosterish, giving them credence and a prominence they otherwise did not merit in the absence of corroboration. The case has damaged Australia's reputation in the region, especially through airings on the ABC-run Australia Network. The offence to Australia's standing is entirely defensible if the burnt hands report is credible, but so far there is no evidence to that effect. The Seven network first aired allegations by asylum seekers of assault. Then Fairfax Media - publisher of the Herald - reported the claims that their hands had been burnt as a result of orders from naval officers. Amid strong denials from Australian defence officials, the story went quiet. The ABC secured new video and still images. In addition, it claimed Indonesian police had backed the asylum seekers' story. That has not been verified. While the ABC reported the Australian denials, it went further, promoted the story across all platforms and generated considerable debate based on what remain unfounded claims. One ABC journalist subsequently wrote a note: "My boss believes the allegations are likely to be untrue . . ." The public is right also to be highly sceptical. Like the Seven network and Fairfax Media, the ABC was justified in reporting the claims, but erred in how much weight and prominence it gave them. Nationalistic pride is strong in this Indonesian presidential election year, with Australia's stop the boats policy being considered an affront. As an Indonesian Foreign Ministry staffer wrote in The Jakarta Post: "When it comes to an infringement of sovereignty, its people will defend their territory at all costs." Security Minister Djoko Suyanto labelled the Australian navy's alleged actions as "torture" - without proof. People smugglers also have an incentive to tell their clients to scuttle vessels and undermine the boats policy. But, even so, the ABC had a duty to vigorously test the burnt hands claims. ABC chairman Jim Spigelman recently flagged external audits of bias at the public broadcaster. A broader inquiry into safeguards would be wise. While the burnt hands controversy does not in any way justify attempts to slash ABC funding, it has provided the government with a convenient excuse to close the Australia Network to save $223 million a year. Murdoch interests wanted to run it in 2011 but were stymied by the Gillard government after a tender shambles. At the time the Herald supported the ABC's retention of the contract "if we are to have an overseas TV service." The "if" is worth revisiting now only because there is an inherent conflict between the objective news reporting of the Australia Network and its public relations role. Stories that reflect badly per se on Australia do little to further our image in Asia, although they do reiterate the Australian values of freedom of speech. In 2009, ABC managing director Mark Scott promised the Australia Network could deliver "credibility, a track record of effective engagement, and an ability to be diplomatically deft, without sacrificing key attributes and values of quality journalism." Only the public can determine how well it has delivered on that promise and whether it should be saved.