The media watchdog has an agreement with ABC on the Catalyst program | Media

The media monitoring body found that ABC's scientific program, Catalyst, violated editorial standards of fairness by presenting the beef industry as detrimental to the environment .

Last year, Meat & Livestock Australia told the ABC that the program was unfair to the beef industry and that insects were being promoted as an alternative source for livestock. But an internal investigation revealed that the program met editorial standards.

The industry has complained to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, claiming that Catalyst had described Australian beef production as an unsustainable user of land and water.

The authority took a different view and found that the CBA was violating the fairness provisions of its own code of practice in the Catalyst Feeding Australia: Foods of Tomorrow program.

This is not the first Catalyst program to be criticized.

In 2014, it was determined that two statin episodes – which had led thousands of Australians to stop taking their cholesterol medication – had violated the broadcaster's standards of impartiality and had been removed from the website. ABC.

In 2016, another episode on the potential risks of wifi for health had violated its editorial standards. The journalist then Maryanne Demasi, host of Catalyst, was suspended.

At the end of the year, the program's weekly slot and its 11 employees – including the suspended Demasi – were fired. The program came back under the name of Catalyst, but consists of a series of one-hour films produced externally.

The Acma survey on the 2019 issue revealed that the issue did not present beef production with all the required impartiality, as it did for D & B. Other foods.

"It's an editorial decision by the broadcaster as to how the particular issues will be presented," said Association President Nerida O. Loughlin. "However, the code requires that the overall presentation is always made in a way that achieves the desired impartiality."

The investigation revealed that Catalyst used spectacular visual displays, emotional language and moral arguments in the beef segments. "Overall, these issues have led the program to demonstrate a lack of fair treatment and open-mindedness," said Acma.

The beef industry said the program did not reflect the latest scientific knowledge and was hugely detrimental to the Australian beef industry.

The industry said the broadcaster had "an obvious program from the ABC metropolis to discredit agriculture in Australia" and that this program was a "scandalous attack on the farmers, communities and workers they support".

In one segment, the presenter discussed alternatives to beef, in which a former medical student, now a restaurateur, talked about a synthetic protein burger as a "meat protein substitute." "The restaurateur compared the cow eyes in a slaughterhouse to" the patients I saw in emergency rooms "and considered eating" more moral "herbal synthetic proteins."

The CBA rejected ACMA's findings.

"The ABC stands alongside the Catalyst team and program, which explores major advances in food production that will help Australia find more sustainable ways to feed a population." estimated at 40 million inhabitants by 2050, "said the broadcaster in a statement.

"We do not share Acma's view regarding the lack of impartiality of the program and found that the program described the impact of cattle farming on the environment. as accurate and not misleading. "