SBS - Antisemitism/editorial bias claims

Question

1. Further to the question on notice at Senate Estimates, with respect to copies of all editorial directives by SBS editorial staff, can all editorial directives on Gaza, Lebanon, Israel, Jews or antisemitism since October 7 2023 be provided? 2. With regard to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, has SBS been approached by APAN and/or its representatives, the JCA (the Jewish Council of Australia), or its representatives Media Diversity Australia or any other advocacy group since Oct 7 2023 to present their perspectives on the IHRA definition. If so, then: a. what were their inputs? b. did the SBS take heed of their requests and has it influenced its position on IHRA? Please provide a copy of all such correspondence including any reply by SBS. 3. What definition of antisemitism does the SBS use? If SBS does not have a definition of antisemitism, what criteria do SBS staff apply when assessing complaints alleging that it has published antisemitic content? 4. Have the SBS Managing Director, people managers or directors or other leadership staff communicated support or condolences to Jewish and/or other staff after the Bondi attack: if so, can this be provided? 5. Have SBS staff raised concerns with their managers, HR or SBS management about feeling unsafe, feeling targeted in the workplace since Oct 7 2023? If so, then what was done to address this? 6. Have concerns been raised by any staff about an anti-Israel and/or antisemitic culture and/or a lack of objectivity in SBS' newsroom or within editorial generally: if so, what actions have been taken as a consequence? 7. Have any Jewish staff left SBS as a result of raising concerns about bias or being targeted by fellow colleagues and/or managers: if so, how many? 8. Has SBS discussed the need for antisemitism training with (a) staff, (b) the Antisemitism Envoy, (c) the Jewish community: if so, has any antisemitism training taken place? If it has then which vendors/providers conducted such training and can the training materials be provided? 9. Has SBS rejected pitches for documentaries, podcasts and other programming related to antisemitism/anti-Jew hate/ or pro-Palestine protests since 7 October 2023: if so, in each instance, what explicit reasons were given to the proponents about why their pitch was rejected? Please provide all relevant correspondence. 10. When did the SBS commission a documentary on Bondi? What editorial guidelines did SBS provide to the filmmakers? Did SBS have any specific stipulations in relation to who should fulfil senior roles in the production team? Please provide communications and documents. 11. On what basis did the SBS reject the proposal for the short film Mezuza Man? Please provide communications and documents. 12. Has SBS Arabic provided editorial guidance and/or inputs about coverage of the October 7 massacre, the Gaza Israel war, Hezbollah Israel war and the Iran war (since 7 Oct 2023): if so a. what guidance? b. has this guidance been implemented? c. can this guidance be provided? 13. Has SBS issued any editorial guidance after 7 October 2023 with respect to the Holocaust and coverage of the Holocaust? If so, why? a. did SBS require editorial staff to get special permission to work on Holocaust related stories (other than news stories)? b. did SBS put in place a system of script approval for Holocaust related stories? c. how many Holocaust related stories were submitted for script approval? d. how many were (i) approved (ii) rejected? e. in relation to each story submitted, what changes if any were requested? f. in relation to any story rejected, why was it rejected?

Answer

Please see the attached answer.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• SQ26-000871.pdf (opens in a new tab)