Little wonder then ON wants "fair and balanced" reporting from the ABC.ABC online ignores Muslim lawyer Haset Sali’s burka ban support
The Australian
12:00AM August 21, 2017
Stephen Brook
The story about a well-known Muslim’s support of senator Pauline Hanson’s plans for a burka ban was so counterintuitive to make it a hit on social media.
But more than 2000 shares on Facebook was not enough to see the story picked up by the ABC’s online news site.
On Friday, Haset Sali, a Muslim lawyer and businessman, was interviewed on ABC Sunshine Coast local radio in Queensland.
Mr Sali, described by ABC Sunshine Coast as a “prominent Australian Muslim”, told presenter Jon Coghill in an interview that he supported Senator Hanson’s push to ban the burka.
A former president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils and one of its founders, Mr Sali told the ABC that the Koran did not require women to cover their faces.
“I don’t often applaud Pauline Hanson — whether it’s a stunt or an initiative to highlight something that’s unnecessary baggage that has been dumped in with Islam — (but) it’s about time the myth of the burka being Islamic dress was blown out of the water,” he told the ABC.
“The sooner Muslim women get rid of this hideous garb the better.”
But that, as far as the ABC was concerned, was that. Although the corporation published online reaction to Senator Hanson’s speech from Muslim leaders and community members, it didn’t publish Mr Sali’s comments.
A Facebook post by ABC Radio Sunshine Coast about the interview went viral, however, with 1400 likes, 245 comments and 2000 shares, including a share to the Facebook page of Attorney-General George Brandis, who gave a strong speech in the Senate attacking Senator Hanson’s decision to wear a burka in the chamber.
Mr Sali said the ABC told him that the story did very well, but “didn’t make it online”. “Apparently it was not accepted for online publication,” he said. “I am not going to speculate as to why it didn’t go online as I wasn’t there when the decision was made.
“Nothing surprises me. Unfortunately there is an element of people in the media who don’t want to hear the good news about Islam. They just want to bury it.”
Mr Sali has appeared on ABC Sunshine Coast several times, including when he was board chairman of fruit company SPC, as well as his project to rewrite the Koran. And he is no stranger to the wider ABC: appearing on Radio National Breakfast, 7.30, The World Today and Lateline.
Last week, ABC chairman Justin Milne defended the organisation after an attack by Senator Hanson’s One Nation party that demanded the words “fair and balanced” be included in the ABC charter. Mr Milne responded that more than 85 per cent of Australians trusted the ABC above all other media businesses.
Presenter Coghill joined the ABC after a 20-year-career as a drummer with the rock group Powderfinger. He gained a degree in international relations and politics and served an internship under the guidance of news journalists Bruce Atkinson and Jo Skinner. The Australian was unable to contact him.
Hinch, Brandis, Wong and Dastyari (whom should know better) were all wrong, ignorant or dishonest regards Hanson and the Burka. It seems Hanson had more facts to hand than any of them. The latest attack from Sarah Hanson-Dumb, comes with her blaming Pauline Hanson for the deaths from the next Islamic attack.
I suppose ASIO and the AFP want Muslim women to wear the Burka because its easier to identify radical fundamentalist families that way.
