Update: Oz Uranium in Antarctica? More likely from Uranus

ABC have replied to our complaint about a story originally headlined "Australian uranium dust found in Antarctic ice". ABC have now rephrased the headline "Uranium in Antarctic ice may be from Australia" and added the following editorial note: 

Editor's note (May 18): The headline on this story was amended to make it clear that the traces of uranium found in Antarctica may have been from Australia, rather than presenting it as a fact.

ABC, however embarrass themselves by not spending any further time conducting simple inquiries that quickly demonstrate the baseless nature of the claims. The facts are that Australia's Uranium mining industry in among the most highly regulated in the world with strict environmental controls that monitor mines for any pollution. In their original story ABC report that the minuscule amounts of the radioactive element "correspond to a year (1995) when Australia increased its uranium production," Ricardo Jana, who participates in an international research effort in the frozen continent, told El Mercurio daily." ABC's report states "An ice core from the Antarctic bears traces of uranium that may have been carried by the wind from Australian mines in 1995, a glacier expert has told a Chilean newspaper."

Here's a graph of Australia's production of yellowcake from the Australian Parliamentary Library

Production in 1995 at about 5000t is less than 1983 (about 6000t). Why were no "uranium particles" detected in 1983, wind not blowing the right way perhaps?  The other problem is that Australia does not produce Uranium. It produces Uranium Oxide, a compound of uranium. 

This story even corrected remains a load of nonsense!

ABC's reply is posted below and our request for further action on this woeful piece of reporting is posted below that.

From ABC Audience and consumer affairs received 6 June 2010.

Thank you for your email regarding ABC News Online.

Yours concerns of inaccuracy and a lack of balance have been referred to Audience and Consumer Affairs for review.  The unit is separate to and independent from ABC program areas.

On review, ABC News accepts that the headline to the report in question overstated the certainty that uranium dust found in Antarctica came from Australia. The headline has been changed to ‘Uranium in Antarctic ice may be from Australia’,  and an editor’s note has been appended to the story:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/03/2888354.htm  The headline did not meet the ABC’s standards for accuracy in news and current affairs content.

However, we are satisfied that the story was in keeping with the ABC’s standards for balance.  It was a brief news story reporting the findings of  scientists from the Chilean Antarctic Institute that uranium found in Antarctic dust may be from Australia; as such it reported the views from Dr Ricardo Jana.    We do not believe that further perspectives were required to be included in order to meet the requirements of the ABC’s Editorial Policies; Dr Jana was the principal relevant viewpoint on the subject to hand.    

For your reference, the ABC’s Code of Practice is available at:  http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/200806_codeofpractice-revised_2008.pdf

Yours sincerely
Audience & Consumer Affairs

Our reply...

Dear ABC Audience and Consumer Affairs,

I am not satisfied with ABC's reply. 

Firstly a simple check by ABC would find that Australia does not actually produce any elemental Uranium, it produces and exports Uranium Oxide, more commonly known as Yellow cake (see http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/2009-10/10rp06.htm) . ABC's story mentions "miniscule amounts of the radioactive element" (key word element) and ABC's "expert"  - a glacial scientist talks of "uranium particles". Yellowcake is a compound of Uranium, it is not an "element".  Particles of Yellowcake are a mix of oxygen and uranium. I repeat the "expert" does not mention particles of uranium tied to oxygen, clearly he refers to elemental uranium "uranium particles", which as stated Australia does NOT produce.

Secondly, Australia's Uranium mining industry in among the most highly regulated in the world with strict environmental controls that monitor mines for any pollution. ABC did not bother to check with the Office of the supervising scientist or the Uranium industry for comment. As a geologist I can state the odds of that uranium coming from Australian Uranium mines are as likely as it coming from Uranus. 

As originally stated the story has no factual basis and lacks balance.  The allegations are actually quite serious and amount to Australia polluting Antarctica which is at odds with its commitments to international agreements.  As such ABC should have spent more time researching this. It is disappointing to see an organisation that supposedly prides itself on quality journalism let a story this poorly researched slip through and be published.

I request the ABC either spend more time on this story to establish the facts and add some balance (including issues raised in our original complaint that indicate Uranium is mined in nearby Chile and Argentina), or remove the story from the website.

If you feel ABC Audience and Consumer Affairs have nothing further to add, please pass this complaint on to the ABCs Complaint Review Executive. We have included them in this email.

Missing News - Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation accounts for changes in Swiss Glaciers

ABC have not yet reported on this article in Geophysical Research Letters that finds that "100-year mass changes in the Swiss Alps linked to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation".

The abstract states: 

Thirty new 100-year records of glacier surface mass balance, accumulation and melt in the Swiss Alps are presented. The time series are based on a comprehensive set of field data and distributed modeling and provide insights into the glacier-climate linkage. Considerable mass loss over the 20th century is evident for all glaciers, but rates differ strongly. Glacier mass loss shows multidecadal variations and was particularly rapid in the 1940s and since the 1980s. Mass balance is significantly anticorrelated to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index assumed to be linked to thermohaline ocean circulation. We show that North Atlantic variability had a recognizable impact on glacier changes in the Swiss Alps for at least 250 years.

Mt Everest melting! But who says it's so?

Updated 2/8/2010- see outcome below
ABC HEADLINE: "Melting ice making Everest climbs dangerous" posted online 2 June 2010
ABC REPORTED: ABC condensed a BBC news report (Sherpas warn ice melt is making Everest 'dangerous') that suggested that "a rise in the rate of snow and ice melt on Mount Everest has exposed bare rock faces and made it dangerous to climb." Both the ABC and BBC stories reported that "Studies show temperatures are rising faster at Mount Everest than in the rest of South Asia." No details of which "studies" demonstrated this was provided in either report.
THE COMPLAINT: ABC (and BBC) fail to indicate a crucial part of the story: the source of the studies that demonstrate "temperatures are rising faster at Mount Everest than in the rest of South Asia." Without credible, checkable source this story amounts to unsubstantiated rumour. Can ABC please provide a reference to the study quoted?
OUTCOME: 
Received 2 August, 2010-see update posted in early August

Thank you for your email of 3 June concerning the ABC News Online article “Melting ice making Everest climbs dangerous”, published the previous day. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.

In keeping with ABC complaint handling procedures, your concerns have been considered by Audience and Consumer Affairs, a unit separate to and independent from ABC program areas. In light of your concerns, we have assessed the sentence of the article to which you refer against the ABC’s editorial requirement for accuracy in news and current affairs content, as outlined in section 5.2.2(c) of the ABC’s Editorial Policies: http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/edpols.htm. In the interests of procedural fairness, we have also sought and considered material from ABC News.

ABC News have advised that the story in question was taken from BBC copy and was written with radio news bulletins in mind. ABC News Online uses copy from radio news bulletins as a key source which explains why some stories, such as this one, are quite short and report only the key points of the story. It is also important to note that news stories differ in content and style from academic publications which use references and footnotes, and we do not agree a story must necessarily mention the details on which statements are based or that the absence of such information renders the story an “unsubstantiated rumour”.

The ABC’s editorial provision for accuracy requires “every reasonable effort, in the circumstances” must be made to ensure accuracy of factual content. In this case, the story was sourced from the BBC, which we regard as a reputable source of news material. The only changes made to the story by the ABC were editing for length given, as noted above, it was being written for radio news bulletins. Having considered the focus, length and source of the story in question, Audience and Consumer Affairs believe no further efforts were required at the time of publication to meet section 5.2.2(c)(i) of the ABC’s Editorial Policies. 

On receipt of your complaint, we have investigated whether it could be established that a significant error had been made that warranted correction, as required by section 5.2.2(c)(ii) of the ABC’s Editorial Policies. Audience and Consumer Affairs note that studies do appear to show temperatures are rising faster at Mount Everest than in the rest of South Asia, as illustrated in Table 10.2 of the Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/contents.html. In view of this, we are unable to conclude that a significant error has been made which warrants correction. However, should you have specific further information which you feel is relevant to our decision on this point, we would be happy to consider it.

Accordingly, while noting your concerns, Audience and Consumer Affairs are satisfied the story was in keeping with the ABC’s editorial requirement for accuracy in news and current affairs content. Nonetheless, please be assured that your comments have been brought to the attention of ABC News management.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your concerns with us, and for your interest in the ABC. For your reference, a copy of the ABC Code of Practice is available at: http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/200806_codeofpractice-revised_2008.pdf.

Yours sincerely

Head, Audience & Consumer Affairs

COMMENT:We have also written to the BBC with a request for the details of this study. 

No time for a break?

COMMENT: ABC's Media Watcher Jonathan Holmes takes The Australian to task with claims that ABC journos are unable to file original stories because they are run off their feet. Our own productivity survey suggests there is ample capacity in the system. For June 2009 ABC's News 913.14 staff members managed to post 7134 stories as documented in ABC News Archive.This sounds like a lot but its only about 7.8 stories per staff member. Thats 7.8 stories per staff member for the month!  And many of those stories are repeated not twice, but three times over (see screen shot from the archive for June 29, 2005).

ABC's archive for June 2003 (7230) contains 96 more stories than June 2009  produced by less staff (766.24), thats 146.9 less staff! Me thinks Jonathan complains too loudly.

Pacific Islands growing not sinking-wrong journal quoted

Update-see outcome below
ABC HEADLINE: "Pacific islands growing, not sinking" news online 3/6/2010
ABC REPORTED: ABC somewhat surprisingly covered recent research that indicates that many low-lying Pacific islands are growing, not sinking, as claimed by the IPCC. In its report the ABC suggests the findings were published in New Scientist magazine "The findings, published in the magazine New Scientist" .
 THE COMPLAINT:  New Scientist is not a peer reviewed journal, like the ABC it merely reports the news.
The research findings were in fact published in the journal Global and Planetary Change. The source of the New Scientist report is a research paper by Andrew Webb and Paul Kench titled "The dynamic response of reef islands to sea level rise: evidence from multi-decadal analysis of island change in the central pacific". The DOI is http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2010.05.003
Please amend the report to provide the correct publication.
OUTCOME: Received 27 July, 2010
Thank you for your email of 3 June concerning the ABC News Online article “Pacific islands growing, not sinking” published that day. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.

In keeping with ABC complaint handling procedures, your concerns have been considered by Audience and Consumer Affairs, a unit separate to and independent from ABC program areas. In light of your concerns, we have assessed the sentence of the article to which you refer against the ABC’s editorial requirement for accuracy in news and current affairs content, as outlined in section 5.2.2(c) of the ABC’s Editorial Policies: http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/edpols.htm. In the interests of procedural fairness, we have also sought and considered material from ABC News.

The story reported that new research had identified that many low-lying Pacific islands are growing, not sinking, challenging the view that Pacific islands are sinking due to rising sea levels associated with climate change. As you point out, the story referred to the findings as having been published in the magazine New Scientist. New Scientist is a weekly science magazine and website providing coverage of recent developments in science and technology, and it published a story about the research and its findings:http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627633.700-shapeshifting-islands-defy-sealevel-rise.html.

On review, Audience and Consumer Affairs do not agree the article’s reference to the findings having been published in New Scientist magazine was inaccurate. As noted above, details of the research and its findings were published in New Scientist. While we appreciate that the full research paper was published in the peer-reviewed journal to which you refer, and this may be of interest to some readers, we are satisfied that reference to the findings being published in New Scientist magazine was accurate and in keeping with section 5.2.2(c) of the ABC’s Editorial Policies.

Notwithstanding this, please be assured that your comments have been noted and conveyed to ABC News management. Thank you again for taking the time to write, and for your interest in the ABC. For your reference, a copy of the ABC Code of Practice is available at: http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/200806_codeofpractice-revised_2008.pdf.

Yours sincerely

 Audience & Consumer Affairs

COMMENT: With recent staff increases it should be possible for ABC journalists to take the time (we took 2 minutes) to find the original research.
It appears New Scientist standards are also lapsing. The link to the paper provided in their article is not correct and returns a related paper by Colin Woodroffe published in Global and Planetary change in 2007. We have informed New Scientist of the need for a correction. My good help is certainly hard to find these days!

ABC NEWS Productivity Survey: Models predict grim future.

We have finalised the results of our inaugural survey of the productivity of ABC's News service. The long term trends provide an alarming picture of the future of ABC News, and of news in general! The survey is based on a count of stories for the month of June for each year in ABC's news archives, starting in 2003. Staff numbers are derived from ABC annual reports. We have used June as the basis for our survey as ABC Annual reports provide a head count of staff for this month.
SUMMARY FOR POLICY MAKERS: 
ABC doing less with more!
RESULTS
Staffing
ABC Annual reports indicate an alarming rise in staff numbers over the period 2003 to 2009 from 766.24 to 913.14.

Based on the trend our model indicates ABC News Staff Numbers in the year 2100 will be about 3450. Given the proportion of staff in "News" to the rest of the ABC remains at 2009 levels (20.1%),we predict with a high degree of certainty (90%) that in 2100 the ABC will have about 17163 staff. Of concern is that there appears to be no correlation between ABC staff numbers and global temperature, which remained flat over the study period.
News Output
Applying the standard measure of productivity used for university academics, we have based our analysis in terms of stories per staff member. In these terms, based on the data provided, ABC News productivity fell to an all time low in 2009 with each staff member employed by ABC News resulting in just 7.8 stories for the month, a sharp drop on 2008 which yielded 10.3 stories per staff member. Readers may find the shape of the graph somewhat familiar.

Despite the increased staff, total stories declined dramatically from the previous year from 8894 to just 7134, well below 2003 figures. Note that we have not attempted to hide the decline in the graph below.

Weekend News

For weekends there has been a steady decline in productivity over the study period.

Given a continuation of the long term trend, our model predicts the unit output per staff member for weekend news stories will fall to zero in the year 2102, at which point ABC News will employ about 3506 staff in News. We are unsure what they will be doing, or whether this indicates that nothing will be worth reporting on in the not so distant future.
Weekday News
The future appears even more grim for those who rely on ABC News output for their Weekday news. 2009 was an all time low, with a productivity index of just 0.32 stories per staff member per day.

Alarmingly, leaving out the obvious outliers of 2007 and 2008, the long term trend points to zero output by 2067, at which time staff levels will be around 2522. We assume that these staff will be involved in preparing a diminishing number of stories for ABC's weekend news. However we feel it's worth noting that all the news worth reporting will occur on the weekend.

We will add to our analysis for 2010 when ABC's annual report appears later in the year. Naturally a copy of the raw data is available on request. 

From the vault - Moby Dave, not Moby Dick

7.00pm Television News 21 October 2006
The complaint
Five viewers complained that a photograph of a whale shark, which is not in fact a whale, was
used in the introduction to a report about research into whale songs.
Findings
The ABC acknowledged the error. The stock image was more obviously labelled to avoid any
recurrence of this error in future.


http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/public_report_oct_dec_2006.pdf


"From the Vault" - digging up past corrections and clarifications from the ABC archives