Senator BOB COLLINS(8.29 p.m.) —I rise on the adjournment debate tonight to discuss Media Watch , the weekly review of mass media which has appeared on ABC television since 1989. I should state at the outset that I consider the program to be among the most important on Australian television. It is compulsive viewing for public affairs addicts such as me. It provides an invaluable public service. It is a telling example of why we need a national public broadcaster such as the ABC. Media Watch would never be aired on a commercial broadcasting network.

I do not have time tonight to detail the myriad examples of Media Watch's fine research work, but its exposition of the fraudulent Skase chase on Channel 7's Today Tonight was an obvious stand-out this year. You can, therefore, understand my dismay that the credibility of its presenter, Stuart Littlemore, and, by association, Media Watch is currently under a cloud.

It all began with a Lateline program on the ABC early last month which discussed media accountability. The Lateline producers had assembled three talking heads—Stuart Littlemore, American media analyst Steve Brill, and Sydney Morning Herald media journalist Pilita Clark. Littlemore and Brill got off to a fairly innocuous and, I would have to say, mutually admiring start, until Brill commented:

Stuart, you sound more arrogant than the most arrogant journalist I've ever heard.

You could hear the cheers from newsrooms around the country. Littlemore, who was visibly caught short, bit back very offensively and said, `You've got a good sense of the dollar, Steve.' He continued:

Steve Brill obviously thinks there's a quid to be made, a dollar to be made, out of writing about the media.

Brill snapped back, `Do you do it for free, or—', and Littlemore cut across him with the response, `Yeh, I do actually.' At that point, I said to my television set, `Stuart, I hope that's true.' Indeed, Stuart, if you are out there listening, tell me it is true.

I made inquiries of the ABC. I did not ask for the quantum of any moneys paid to Stuart Littlemore. I simply asked, on the record, if he was paid by the ABC for his services on the program. The reply was yes. Mr Littlemore is paid by the ABC for his services as presenter of Media Watch. I stress that I am not interested in the details of the quantum or any arrangements Mr Littlemore may have in place for that money. They are matters between him and the ABC. Mr Littlemore may, for example, pay to charity all of the money that he receives for Media Watch.

What has dismayed me—and a number of fellow supporters of the program who have raised this matter with me—is the fact that Mr Littlemore has been prepared, for whatever reason, to allow this apparent inaccuracy to stand on the public record uncorrected for almost a month.

As far as I am aware, the last time Mr Littlemore appeared on ABC's Lateline was on 20 August 1995 in a program entitled `Policing the Media', which I also watched. The program discussed a new code of ethics for journalists to replace the existing code in an attempt, in the words of host Kerry O'Brien, to `curb the worst excesses of the trade'.

The signature film story was followed by a panel discussion, which included Mr Littlemore and his old foe Gerald Stone. At one stage, the discussion turned to the provision in the new code for journalists to `urge the fair correction of errors'. Mr Littlemore argued strongly that this provision was a pointless dilution of the existing tougher provision that journalists were duty bound to do their utmost to ensure the correction of harmful error.

The point is obvious. Mr Littlemore has thus far clearly chosen to ignore whatever code he wishes to follow. I do not wish to see Media Watch and its presenter under a cloud. Frankly, the program is too important for that. I am raising this matter tonight because this is, hopefully, the last sitting week of the parliament this year and, because of the Constitutional Convention, the parliament will go into recess until March next year, and Media Watch is already in recess.

I believe that before the first Media Watch of 1998 goes to air, the ABC must clarify this matter. I believe Mr Littlemore should take the first opportunity to set the record straight. Anything less will simply provide further ammunition for the legion of ag grieved journalists and editors who have suffered the sharp end of his tongue and his relentless campaign for honesty and accountability in our newspapers and on our airwaves.

Goodnight to you.