20150214

ABC 3 attempts politics on kids

My complaint to the ABC:

During a promo (or perhaps a program intro) on ABC Friday (13 Feb 2015) evening, the talking head talked about the 'Stolen Generation' with the inference that children were removed from their families in large numbers and without cause in the words similar to "how would you like to be taken from your family...". With children in the room I turned the program off due to its tendentious and misleading nature.
Please clarify in future that some aboriginal children were 'given up' by parents, others were removed for their own safety due to the aboriginal cultural habits of abuse and neglect of children, and others (mixed parentage) were rejected by their family or tribe.
You might also point out that there was no policy to eliminate aborigines or to 'steal' them. For such children it was necessary and compassionate to provide them with alternative care within the mores of the period in question.
It was entirely misleading to not cast the narrative in these terms and blends for young children fiction and reality in an unfortunate manner.