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In the case of Media Watch, which bills itself as the industry's umpire, it was left to the media regulator to find that the program last year breached the ABC's code of conduct by failing to give a journalist the right of reply.
Ironically, the segment - aired on September 19, 2011 - accused Sydney tabloid the Daily Telegraph of not giving both sides of a story fair treatment. Media Watch claimed the Daily Telegraph was increasingly ''blatantly one-sided'' in its coverage of politics as the government's polls declined.
It quoted Communications Minister Stephen Conroy as saying: ''The campaign they have been running against the government has been blatant; it breaches its own journalistic ethics of News Limited, and I have them here.
''Some of the reporting recently in the Daily Telegraph fails one … two … three of the first three. But that's a personal opinion.''
Media Watch presenter Jonathan Holmes said: ''It's an opinion we share. We've said so before. And the Tele is getting more blatantly one-sided as the government's poll figures slide.''
He cited an article on poker machine reforms by journalist Andrew Clennell to support his claims.
Mr Clennell took exception to the suggestion he was ''deliberately and malevolently ignoring the federal government's argument on the issue'' and launched the complaint.
ACMA rejected his claim that he had been defamed, pointing out that it had no jurisdiction over the matter.
But it did find support for his claim that Media Watch had failed to offer him the right of reply.
The media regulator also rejected Media Watch's defence that, in ACMA's words, it was ''not obligated to offer the opportunity to respond to the presenter's opinion and that to create such an obligation would unduly constrain journalistic enquiry or artistic expression''.
According to the ABC code of practice, ''where allegations are made about a person or organisation, [the ABC will] make reasonable efforts in the circumstances to provide a fair opportunity to respond''.
The ABC will acknowledge the finding on a future episode of Media Watch, and will add a clarification to its online transcript of the episode.