Glenn Dyer’s critique of Senator Santoro’s anti-ABC vendetta was spot on.

The same Senator has a habit of making outrageous allegations against
the ABC that he is later forced to retract (as you can see from this media release).

Earlier this year at another estimates hearing he alleged serious
anti-Semitic remarks were made by a Triple J “Hack” presenter – Steve
Cannane. But it turned out that no such remarks were made at all.

Senator Santoro had relied upon an account of one of his informers that
was totally fabricated. In fact, it seems Santoro’s offensive
allegation was lifted directly from a right-wing Liberal Party-supporting blogger’s website.

After pressure from Bob Brown in the Senate (read the speech here), Santoro was forced to issue a public apology and later apologised (page 9) to the next Senate estimates meeting

It’s amazing that any of Santoro’s attacks are given any
credibility. He is a silly, obsessed right wing nut who gets his
facts hopelessly – and very nastily – wrong.

But the sad fact remains that attacks like Santoro’s – if given oxygen
through the media – have the effect of bullying the ABC to the right.