THE ABC has been forced to remove content from its website following claims that its "error-prone coverage" misled the public over the dangers of coal-seam gas extraction by presenting anti-gas advocacy as science.
Early ABC Radio news bulletins on Tuesday led with a report on a US study linking gas drilling to health problems. A story on the broadcaster's website, entitled "CSG extraction linked to animal deaths", began: "American research linking chemicals from coal-seam gas extraction to the deaths of scores of animals has prompted calls for a freeze on new drilling licences in Australia."
A spokesman for the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association said the article was removed after an eight-hour battle in which the ABC at first refused to back down.
The US study focused on shale gas - not CSG, as reported by the ABC - and included anecdotal accounts of health problems in people living near drilling sites. It was carried out by a veterinarian and a pharmacology professor, both based in New York - rather than at the University of Massachusetts, as the ABC claimed - who both have links to the anti-gas movement.
The Australian
No comments:
Post a Comment