The following article has appeared in The Australian today, featuring a continuation of former news broadcaster, George Donikian's criticism of his ex-employer, SBS. This criticism was first recorded in Donikian's recorded video message for The Promise premiere in Melbourne (click here to see recorded video on the Armenian National Committee of Australia's Facebook page).

The article pasted below can also be found by clicking here.


George Donikian slams SBS’s stance on Armenian killings

Mitchell Bingemann, Senior Media Writer
The Australian
26 June 2017



One of the founding anchors of SBS News, George Donikian, has likened the broadcaster to a “state-run” entity that toes the government line by persisting with an editorial policy that casts doubt on the Armenian genocide as historical fact.

SBS News and Current Affairs has a specific policy on referring to the Armenian genocide, which prohibits its reporters from naming it as such. Instead, reporters are instructed by this policy to refer to the event not as a genocide but as a “mass killing of Armenians considered by many to have been a genocide, which Turkey denies”.

The broadcaster has no such policies that cast doubt on other historical atrocities including the Nanking massacre, Jewish Holocaust or the Rwandan genocide.

The existence of the policy has angered Armenian Australians including Mr Donikian who said he was appalled when SBS managing director Michael Ebeid revealed in Senate estimates in May that the broadcaster had a specific protocol for referencing the Armenian genocide.

In that hearing Mr Ebeid said that as “long as the Australian government does not call it a genocide I think it is very difficult for us to do that. We would probably change our protocol if the Australian government had a different perspective on it.”

Mr Donikian — of Greek-Armenian descent — said that editorial stance infuriated him and warned it could erode the broadcaster’s independence from the government.

“Bruce Gyngell, who was the founding father of SBS in 1980, would be turning in his grave,” Mr Donikian told The Australian.

“I can’t believe SBS is basically acting as a state broadcaster here that is toeing the government line. That’s not what SBS was about when I was there. SBS is supposed to provide a special independent perspective in a manner that I thought was a lot more in-sync with what indeed the world has accepted, that is that the Armenian genocide happened.”

More than 20 countries including France and Russia and two Australian states — NSW and South Australia — recognise the events of 1915-1923 in which the Ottoman government systematically exterminated 1.5 million Armenian subjects as genocide. But both of Australia’s major political parties have so far stopped short of doing so at a federal level.

Malcolm Turnbull and former treasurer Joe Hockey, who is of Armenian descent, have both previously called for the Australian parliament to formally recognise the Armenian genocide.

Mr Donikian was the anchor of SBS World News in the 1980s before moving on as a news reader on commercial TV with Nine and Ten. He remains an SBS ambassador, supporting its projects and mentoring young reporters.

“For the Australian government in 2017 to not recognise the Armenian genocide is sheer expediency. They don’t want to rock the boat for the Turks. SBS should understand the upset this causes the Armenian community and reassess its policy,” he said.

The Australian can reveal the formation of SBS’s policy occurred not long after a group of Armenian genocide deniers, the Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance, ran a campaign urging its supporters to complain about “biased” coverage of the genocide. Form letters were sent to a number of media recipients including Michael Ebeid in late 2014.

Internal SBS correspondence dating to December 2014 obtained by The Australian quotes the ATAA email campaign and references a request from Mr Ebeid to develop SBS’s response to allegations from those letters.

An internal SBS radio meeting agenda from February 9, 2015, also discusses the Armenian editorial policy. It confirms the policy was being developed because “comments are coming through programs and form letters have been sent to the MD (managing director Michael Ebeid).”

SBS has denied there is any link between the ATAA email campaign and the formulation of its editorial policy when referencing the Armenian genocide, and said its guidance was developed in the lead-up to the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli.

“SBS developed editorial guidance ahead of the 100th anniversary of events in 2015 to prepare for increased coverage and engagement from different communities on the subject, in recognition of its significance for Armenians and that it is a controversial issue in Australia and internationally,” an SBS spokeswoman said.

“SBS prepares editorial guidance on a range of subjects to ensure it explores topics sensitively, taking into account strongly held views by the range of communities it serves, in this case with both its Armenian and Turkish audiences in mind and without influence from any particular group or community.”

Mr Donikian’s criticisms of the SBS come after The Australian revealed in May that it had published an article by the ATAA, which last year was expelled from an Australian Human Rights Commission anti-racism campaign. At the time, SBS defended the article saying it did not breach its charter.

The article titled An Australian-Turk’s take on the Anzac spirit was written by a member of the ATAA.

SBS has since removed the article from its website.