The editor of Quadrant has buckled to public and political pressure and offered an apology to the ABC for a comment piece written by the conservative journal's online editor which lamented that the Manchester bombing did not take place at the ABC headquarters.
The prominent historian Keith Windschuttle wrote to the ABC's managing director on Wednesday afternoon, to say, "Even though I do not share all of the interpretations expressed in your letter, I accept your assurance about the offence it caused you and your staff. You have my unreserved apology for any concerns it might have given you."
The apology came after the Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, described the Quadrant piece as "sick and unhinged."
When Fairfax Media contacted Windschuttle for comment earlier in the day, the former ABC board member responded, "You're talking bulls---, don't call back."
In the original piece Quadrant's online editor, Roger Franklin, wrote that "had there been a shred of justice", the Manchester blast would have "detonated in an Ultimo TV studio".
He added that, if such an attack took place, "none of the panel's likely casualties would have represented the slightest reduction in humanity's intelligence, decency, empathy or honesty".
The contentious passage was later amended to begin: "What if that blast had detonated in an Ultimo TV studio?" and it remains on the journal's site, entitled "The Manchester Bomber's ABC Pals".
As a result of the threatening tone of the letter, coupled with the high-profile guests and contentious issues attached to the Q&A program, ABC management later contacted security experts and notified the Australian Federal Police.
The ABC's managing director, Michelle Guthrie, wrote a letter of complaint to Quadrant, describing Franklin's piece as vicious and offensive.
"To take issue with our programming and our content is one thing," she wrote. "But to express the wish that, if there were any justice, the horrific terrorist bombing in Manchester would have taken place in the ABC's Ultimo studio and killed those assembled there is a new low in Australian public debate."
She asked that the piece be removed and an apology made.
Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield has described the comments as "sick and unhinged".
A senior staff member at the ABC said it was sickening that an editor at Quadrant would "appropriate the tragedy in Manchester to use in some sort of hate campaign against the ABC".
Nick Cater of the Menzies Research Centre, who also sits on the board of Quadrant, told ABC's The Drum that the comment piece was a "despicable thing to write".
"Personally and on behalf of other board members I spoke to today I'd like to reinforce Keith's apology to the ABC and to its staff and to all of you, of course, who work in Ultimo. I think that this is just absolutely beyond the pale, it is not justified.
"If you do a printed version of a magazine as Quadrant ... it probably goes through about six or seven pairs of eyes before it hits the newsstand and with anything as intemperate and crass as this would have been discovered long ago but with online technology often they don't have those checks and balances.
"And here, I think, what I'll be asking Keith to look at as the editor, why it is somebody can write a comment piece and then just stick it straight online with no checks and balances.... And you put all that reputation at risk with just one piece.
"I can't begin to go into how disgraceful I think the comments are," Cater added.
Earlier in the day, Franklin told Fairfax Media that he stood by the point he was seeking to illustrate in the essay, which he said he had first posted in draft form and updated progressively over the evening.
"The whole piece was an attack on terrorism. It is absurd to suggest that in the third-last paragraph I would advocate a terrorist act."
He said he was making a rhetorical point about the absurdity of a suggestion by one of the panelists on Monday night's program that accidents involving refrigerators kill more people than terrorism, and what he saw as the ongoing refusal of ABC commentators to acknowledge the true causes of terrorism.
"Our lives and the way we live are being constricted, we live in fear and the causes are being obfuscated," he said.
On Wednesday morning, a note was sent out to ABC staff saying comments had been made that constituted "veiled threats" against the ABC's Ultimo premises and had caused concern to some staff.
"ABC takes all threats against staff seriously and pro-active steps have been taken to ensure the safety and welfare of all staff and users of ABC Ultimo.
"While consideration is given to minimise inconvenience please appreciate that intermittent increased security presence and more rigorous security screening is to ensure staff safety and well-being," the note said.
With Aja Styles
