| Psychic
Investigators - ABC
TV

"Rubbish"
- The Age
"Appalling."
- James Randi
"Drivel"
- The Sydney Morning Herald
"Completely erroneous..."
- Leigh Dayton
"Entirely unconvincing."
- Larissa Dubecki
"Unforgivable, Mumbo Jumbo"
- The Australian
"Polluting the Catalyst
time-slot..." - Robyn Williams
"A
load of unmitigated codswallop." - Dr Alex
Ritchie
"A lumpy clod of sensationalist
drivel." - Sacha Molitorisz
In late 2006 to early 2007, ABC TV in Australia aired a "documentary"
series called 'Psychic Investigators'. No,
it was not about an investigation of the claims of so-called
psychics, it' was about the great successes of
psychics in solving crimes. Yes, you read it
right.
This page has been set up to offer an analysis of some of
the episodes from a more rational point of view.
We
here at Mystery Investigators are constantly
reassuring school students that the 'Psychic Detectives' they
see on commercial TV are not real but are only actors. 'Psychic
Detectives', we inform them, do not help police solve crimes.
Instead, they bring false hope to families at their most vulnerable
time. Sadly, the ABC have re-bunked the whole subject. Will
the ABC win yet another BENT
SPOON AWARD?
Did anyone at the ABC stop to think
that this show may now cause people in this country to pester
the police to use "psychics" and therefore waste
time, money and valuable resources?
But now the show is over, let's
hope the ABC NEVER repeat it.
NSW
Police web site search result for "psychics":
- Sorry, your search for 'psychics' returned zero results.
-
Victorian
Police web site search result for "psychics":
- Search returned no results. -
Queensland
Police web site search result for "psychics":
- No results for 'Psychics'. -
Do
UK Police use 'Psychics'?
- Psychic
Investigators official web site
- Hear
what the ABC's own Robyn Williams thinks of the show.
(mp3)
- Hear what science
writer Leigh Dayton thinks of the show. (mp3)
- Read
what Leigh Dayton in 'The Australian' thinks of the show.
(jpg)
- Read
what Sacha Molitorisz in 'The Age' thinks of the show.
- Read
what Larissa Dubecki in 'The Age' thinks of the
show.
- Read what
Barry Williams has to say in 'the Skeptic'.
(pdf)
- *NEW*
- Letter
of Complaint
Ken McLeod
Added April, 2007
"As someone who worked in search and rescue
for 30 years, I was incensed by the damage the
ABC has done to the bereaved, so I wrote a letter to the
ABC chairman."
Read
Ken's Letter (pdf)
- Bid to kill
off psychic show
Leigh Dayton, 'THE AUSTRALIAN'
December 23, 2006
It may seem like harmless fun but some ABC staff are so
offended by the
pseudo-scientific television program Psychic Investigators,
they have asked managing director Mark Scott to take it
off air.
Read
more....
- DUMP THIS SERIES
James Randi
December 29, 2006
While we’re in this part of the world, we should mention
that staff members of Australia’s ABC-TV don’t
look upon the current use of the US pseudo-scientific series,
“Psychic Investigators," as “harmless fun”
but as an affront to their viewers.
Read
more...
- Letter
of Complaint
Dr Alex Ritchie
BSc PhD
December 2, 2006
Last week, after watching the final
episode of ABC ‘Catalyst’ for 2006, I couldn’t
believe my ears when I heard what was planned to take its
place over the summer season...
Read more... (pdf)
- Our ABC
is off metaphorically telling us, in prime time no less,
to bow to spoon-benders and dream-readers.
Kenneth Nguyen, The Sydney Morning Herald
January 11, 2007
Psychic Investigators is, finally, just one more
cultural product encouraging the public to retreat from
the rational: one could add it to a pile already consisting
of astrology, crystal dangling and 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Read
more....
- *NEW Videos*
See how police time is wasted
by 'psychics'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKX5yB-H2tI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuPadpaTwKY
- Comments
page for complaints to the ABC
- Letters from the ABC
1. Psychic Investigators - Jason
Williams
2. Psychic Investigators - Margie Calciano
3. Psychic Investigators - Rachel Domas
4. Psychic Investigators - Alexis Burke
5. Psychic Investigators - Penney Serra
6. Psychic Investigators - Mick Hughes
8. Psychic Investigators - Southern
Organs
9. Psychic Investigators - Mark Green
1.
Psychic Investigators - Jason Williams
ABC TV 8:00pm Thursday,
30 Nov 2006
James Randi once said, “My
concern is not HOW they do it but IF they do it.”
These words ring true when viewing the first episode of ‘Psychic
Investigators.’
It seems there has been no attempt by the producers to verify
the alleged powers of the “psychics” involved
in the show. But there is however, and this something for
which the ABC should hang its head in shame,
an attack on the police for not consulting “psychics”.
An attack for NOT consulting “psychics”?
Can anyone at the ABC have actually watched this show before
it when to air? Police are to be praised
for sticking to tried and true methods and not resorting to
magic and delusion.
"Psychic" Sue Evans, called in by Williams' sister,
uses Tarot Cards to find out what happened
to the missing Jason Williams. Tarot Cards.... hmmm. Stop
right now. There is no evidence
that Tarot Cards work as claimed and the use of them in this
show is simply ridiculous. Be that as it may, Sue ‘divines
via magic’ that there is “indicated trauma”
surrounding Jason but “we weren’t exactly
sure what had happened.” Amazing insights. Sue
cannot say if Jason is dead or alive.
12 days after Jason disappears, Sue tries again with the
added help of another psychic, her sister. Sue uses remote
viewing “to sense the world from a spirit's point
of view”. There is no evidence
that remote viewing works as claimed. Sue seems to get a few
facts right (we are not shown all the ones she may have gotten
totally wrong) but what is not substantiated is whether Sue
had no way of knowing these details before discussing them
on camera. It is impossible to tell which details, if any,
were truly determined by psychic means and which had been
picked up subsequently and then incorporated into her story.
It is, after all, just a TV show (something the ABC should
try to remember).
The police, using real methods of investigation, make an
arrest, conduct forensics tests pronounce Williams murdered.
They tell the sister who claims that she didn’t tell
the psychic and that the psychic later phones her to tell
her that she has been in contact with Jason’s spirit
and that he has been murdered. Again, who knows what really
happened and in what order. There is no attempt to verify
the events.
Sue claims that there would be blood found close to a radiator
and that subsequently blood was found on the radiator by police.
This is offered as “proof for the psychic believers
that the psychic has access to the world of the paranormal”.
Since it was known Jason was stabbed, it is no surprise that
blood would indeed be on the radiator and probably many other
places.
Sue and sister Julie start their own hunt for the body and
a team of psychics is brought in. They claim that they "saw"
the body being loaded into a van and taken up to an area known
as the Brecon Beacons where it was buried close by “the
branch of a tree had broke” and claim that there
are three Celtic crosses near where the body was buried. The
police reveal that Sinfield (a suspect) said during questioning
that he and Davis (a suspect) wrapped up Williams’ body,
put it in a van and took it up to the Brecon Beacons. Again
there is no attempt to verify the order of prediction and
events. (Remember, it’s just a TV show…) Police
do identify a tree that has had some bark knocked off its
trunk. This is taken by the film makers as confirmation of
the psychic prediction of a broken tree limb. Hey, any ‘fit’
in a storm.
Sue also finds a church with three Celtic crosses on the
Brecon Beacons. How odd, Celtic crosses in South Wales.
In the end, despite the show making snide remarks about the
police not wanting to waste their time and effort on “psychics”,
it is in fact the police and their use of painstaking investigating
that results in the convictions of the guilty.
2.
Psychic Investigators - Margie Calciano
ABC TV 8:00pm Thursday,
5 Dec 2006
Report from Peter Barrett (extra
comments by Richard Saunders)
This episode of Psychic Investigators was the story of the
investigation of the murder of an unidentified woman whose
body was recovered in December 1984 in Cumru, Pennsylvania,
in the USA. According to the episode summary, a detective
and a psychic worked together to identify the woman and her
murderer, 20 years later. But was that statement born out
by the story told on the program?
The investigator, Detective Robert Wanner, had decided to
consult psychic Dr Lauren Thibodeau over a murder case he
was investigating, after finding out that relatives of the
victim had consulted her. Wanner said that he didn't reveal
his line of work to Dr Lauren (as she's popularly known),
but still she was able to identify him as a police officer,
even though the narrator said there was no way she could have
known. She then said he was working on two murder cases, which
he said surprised him as he was only investigating one at
the time.
It is normal for people
to misremember ‘psychic’ or cold readings. The
‘psychic’ may well have said something like;
Psychic: “I see people wearing uniforms. Does that mean
anything to you?”
Detective: “Yes, I work for the police department.”
This is later remembered as
Psychic: “I see people wearing police uniforms. Are
you a police officer?”
There are many, many variations of this type of fishing, each
of which could result in the detective mis-remembering the
real conversation. We do not know if this was the case in
this situation, but it would not be at all surprising.
The program then described Dr Lauren's psychic visions, of
Route 78 (a major highway in Pennsylvania) of the Brooklyn
Bridge in New York City, and of a truck driver and the side
of a truck cab. The narrator made much of the fact that at
the time of the unknown woman's murder in 1984, Dr Lauren
was somewhere else, and couldn't possibly have known about
the murder.
Two months after speaking to Dr Lauren, Wanner was assigned
the cold case of the unidentified woman. Detective Wanner
was amazed that Dr Lauren had predicted he'd be assigned to
the case. At the time of the recovery of the body, the main
suspect was a truck driver, but subsequent investigations
confirmed he couldn't have been the murderer.
Wanner's first task was to identify her. He sent her fingerprints
to a national database, and within a couple of days got a
name - Margie Calciano. Following Dr Lauren's hint, he looked
up the Calcianos in New York, finding 250 of them. The first
one he called turned out to be Margie's mother, Joan.
Detective Wanner spoke to Joan Calciano. She named Margie's
boyfriend, a jealous, hotheaded, and older man named Peter
Iosa, as someone she'd suspected of being involved in Margie's
disappearance. But there was no record of anyone called Peter
Iosa, so Wanner assumed it was false.
Dr Lauren then gave a description of a second psychic vision.
This time she saw a truck driver, smoking and wearing a heavy
quilted shirt. She also had an image of a lake, possibly the
Great Lakes, and she smiled as she said the phrase, "near
water".
Detective Wanner spoke to an ex-boyfriend of Margie's, who
said that Peter had filed a complaint against him with the
New York Police. The NYPD retrieved the report, and found
that Peter's surname was Williams. Wanner tracked Williams
down to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, using Williams's Social Security
number. It turned out Williams used to drive trucks between
New York and Wisconsin, a journey which passed by the Great
Lakes.
Wanner retrieved a DNA sample from Williams, and this was
linked to a hair found on the blanket in which Margie's body
was wrapped when it was recovered.
But Williams never went to trial, as he died of cancer.
Put together, it was an interesting story, but to suggest
that Dr Lauren played much part in the story is stretching
things way too far. Consider these points:
- The whole process of investigating the case, from identifying
Margie Calciano to finding the main suspect Peter Williams
was nothing but good police work. Nothing that Dr Lauren
said had any material effect on that investigation.
- The narrator said that there was no way Dr Lauren could
have known that Wanner was a policeman. Yet she'd previously
spoken to relatives of the victim whose murder Wanner had
originally been investigating. Is it too much to believe
that one of them had mentioned Wanner's name?
- Wanner initially said that Dr Lauren told him he *was*
working on the cold case. Later in the program, he said
she told him he *would be* working on the cold case. Wanner
appears to be altering what Dr Lauren said to make it fit
events, to make a miss into a hit. He even *said* that he
was trying to make what she said fit what he knew.
- The narrator said there was no way Dr Lauren could have
known anything about the murder of Margie Calciano. But
20 years had passed between the recovery of her body and
Detective Wanner approaching her. We have no way of knowing
what Dr Lauren may have found out in that time.
- It was interesting that Dr Lauren used the statement
"near water". Without a qualification of what
sort of water we're talking about, the statement is meaningless,
as water is all over the place in various forms -
lakes, rivers, drains, pools, even toilet cisterns.
- Peter Williams was never tried, and it's unclear whether
he was even charged.
Yet the program and Detective Wanner make it abundantly
clear they thought
Williams was guilty. Without knowing Williams's guilt for
certain, it's irresponsible to suggest that a psychic played
any part in solving the crime.
I'm
still wondering how this show has come up with so many 'real
psychics' when science has tried for years to find just
one.
3.
Psychic Investigators - Rachel Domas
ABC TV 8:00pm Thursday,
14 Dec 2006
Before the review of this episode, a note to the
program directors at ABC TV. The ‘psychic’
in this case did ABSOLUTELY
NOTHING to help solve the murder. Now….
Rachel Domas, 14 years old from New Jersey, was murdered
in a forest by Michael Manfridonia in the late 1980s. The
case is only hours old, at this stage Rachel was only missing,
when a friend of the family calls on ‘psychic’
Nancy Weber to help. Detective Micco is in charge of the case.
The only relevant insights ‘psychic’ Nancy Weber
seems to have come up with were;
- The name 'Michael'.
- The killer was connected with the smell of oil.
- Rachel Domas was dead.
- The killer was near oil drums.
- The killer was suicidal and ‘high’.
- The killer would be caught soon.
None of these amazing revelations are backed up with evidence
(recordings etc.) and we the viewers have no idea if in fact
Weber really did just blurt these out at the time. How many
insights did she have after facts were known? As
people misremember conversations, let alone cold or ‘psychic’
readings, it is far more likely, after 20 years that;
- We have no idea if Weber really said the name ‘Michael’
or if detective Micco is simply retrofitting after the event.
(Indeed he could have let slip the name at the time as Michael
Manfridonia was the prime suspect to have Weber pick up
on it.)
- The smell of oil could mean anything as could ‘connected’,
if indeed it was said at the time. What oil? Car oil? Cooking
oil? Does it mean the suspect drove a car that uses oil?
- Sadly Rachel Domas was indeed dead. Again, we have no
way of knowing if Weber did in fact predict this at the
time. Even if she did it is far from an amazing insight.
- We have no idea if Weber really said, ‘Near oil
drums’. How near? What drums? Near when hiding out?
When working?
- We have no idea if Weber really said the killer was suicidal
or ‘high’. The show states that Michael Manfridonia
was ‘high on an overdose of cold medicine when arrested.’
Oh Please!
- We have no idea if Weber really said the killer would
be caught soon but again, it is far from an amazing insight.
The killer was caught when he went to his own house. Pity
the ‘psychic’ could not have told the police
where he was before then.
How many other things did Weber tell detective Micco and
other people at the time that were simply forgotten as they
did not fit the case? I would bet many indeed. It is also
worth noting that the police officers involved went against
orders when seeking information from the ‘psychic’.
The most ridiculous point in this farce was when the ‘psychic’
remembers seeing a photo of the missing girl. “I instantly
know it’s confirmed. ” (her ‘psychic vision’
of Rachel) she says. Well dah! Anyone can
play that game. Tell me you'll show me a
photo of 'Fred', show it to me and I'll tell you it's Fred!
There you go ABC TV. Can I have a 15 part series now?
From the ABC TV listing;
After the New Jersey school girl Rachel Domas
missed her school bus and decided to walk the three miles
to her home she was never seen again. A veteran psychic and
a rookie cop then combined to solve the disappearance and
murder of the 14-year-old.
What? “…combined to solve the disappearance..”
Nope. Again it turns out that it was police work and
police work only that solved the case in spite of
the time wasted in talking to a 'psychic'.
Come on ABC TV… get
the message. This show is an embarrassment to the good name
of your organisation.
4.
Psychic Investigators - Alexis Burke
ABC TV 8:00pm Thursday,
21 Dec 2006
ABC TV have listed this show, week after week, as
“must see tv”
in their online TV guide.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200612/20061221.htm
I would hope that the “must
see tv” tag would be used wisely
by the ABC. Sadly no. Just like a commercial network, the
ABC are stooping to sensationalism in order to deceive viewers.
It is reported that Alexis Burke flees from her home in Portland,
Oregon in 1986 after an argument with her husband John. It
is in fact John who calls the police 3 days after the event
and reports that she left in the family car and has not returned.
On the case is detective Robert Lee who, right from the start,
suspects John Burke. Sadly, we find out towards the end of
the show that Alexis has been murdered.
In the meantime Alexis' mother, clearly worried, calls 'psychic'
Laurie McQuary. The reports of this phone call come from McQuary
who, no surprise, remembers getting all sorts of facts about
Alexis and John exactly right. It is normal for both 'psychic'
and client to misremember such readings. Both are inclined
to remember the hits and forget the misses. This is what we
expect with cold reading.
A few days later, with no psychic help, the police find the
family car abandoned in a highway rest area. It is full of
clues for police to study.
Alexis' mother now informs detective Lee that she has spoken
with McQuary. Lee meets with McQuary over lunch to see what
she knows. We are told that McQuary 'knew' many things
about the case however this again sounds like a classic misremembering
of events. Who knows what was really said?
We are told that;
- McQuary says that the number 15 is important.
15. In the world of the paranormal, 15
can also mean 15 or 13 or 14 or 16 or 17 or 1.5
or 51 or 5.1 or 1 or 5 and could be used for anything
at all. (Hours or days or miles or metres or area or steps
or house numbers or highway numbers or phone numbers or
peoples' age etc.) We are told the car was found 15 miles
from the house. Really? 15 miles as the crow flies or 15
miles via the road? What about taking another road? How
many kilometres is that?
- There is an older, larger car with a huge trunk involved.
- John Burke's brother was involved. Retelling the story
some 20 years later, McQuary says she 'saw' the brother
actually taking part in the crime. What she really said
at the time is not known.
McQuary tells us that she then visited the prime suspect
John Burke, (a dangerous and stupid act) and got lots of psychic
impressions including the notion that he killed his wife by
strangling her with his bare hands! What an easy thing to
say after the facts of the case are known.
Over the year, McQuary and Lee meet regularly to discuss
the case. How much information this gives McQuary we can only
guess. More amazing insights follow and we are told that;
- The body is buried near a creek and near where John Burke
could keep an eye on it and he even eats his lunch there
- The name “Bells Landing” has something to
do with the crime
A big break in the case comes when a former girlfriend of
John Burke helps the police by calling him. John confesses
to her that he strangled his wife. Police then check out the
15 acres near the metal fabrication plant where John works.
Ah! 15. There it is… or is it? Do we know the area is
15 acres? Is it sort of 15 acres? 13 maybe? How is it defined?
Public land? Private land? Company land? Despite a search,
no body is found.
Finally the case is cracked via a confession from John's
brother. This is credited to an insight from McQuary who tells
us she knew all along that the brother had something to do
with the crime. What she really said at the time is not known.
The body is found near water although the show does not make
it clear just where that was. “Near a building in which
the brothers worked.” Does that mean the metal fabrication
plant? What about the number 15? And what about “Bells
Landing”? The killer and his brother did in fact use
an older, larger car in moving the body.
After all this, Detective Robert
Lee ends up marrying 'psychic' Laurie McQuary.
5.
Psychic Investigators - Penney Serra
ABC TV 8:00pm Thursday,
28 Dec 2006
From ABC TV's web site: "In July 1973
in New Haven, Connecticut in broad daylight, Penney Serra,
a 21-year-old dental assistant was brutally murdered in a
downtown parking garage. Witnesses saw the suspect escape
and forensics discovered a trail of evidence."
On the case was detective George Mazzacane, who as a police
officer should have known better, consulted 'psychic' and
'time walker' Mary Pascarella Downey. 'time walker'?
'TIME WALKER'??? These people seem to give themselves
any ridiculous labels they want.
Downey came up with the following clues (or so we are told
some 33 years after the event.):
"The smell of garage oil."
The killer had a car, used a car, went to a garage, took a
taxi, worked in a garage, had a family member who worked in
a garage, had a car etc. It is so easy to make such a vague
statement fit just about anybody. As it turns out, the killer
did work in a garage at some point. But look again... "Penney
Serra, a 21-year-old dental assistant was brutally murdered
in a downtown parking garage." I wonder if there
was any garage oil about?
"The colour blue is extremely
important."
Could mean anything, ended up meaning nothing that would help
the case. In an obvious effort to make the 'psychic' right,
it was said that part of the floor of the garage in which
the killer worked was once painted blue. Would that be extremely
important enough?
"The letter 'E' on a name
tag."
'E', the most frequently used letter in the English language.
Need I say more?
"The killer had a head
ache."
This was never confirmed. Instead it turns out the killer
had metal plates in his head from a previous injury. That's
all well and good, but don't you think a real psychic would
pick up on that?
"The victim fought to stay
alive."
Someone being attacked and fighting back. Who could ever have
'seen' that? Just amazing.
"Water"
The old standby. This lead to a good random 'hit' the psychic
as the killer lived in a place called Waterbury.
What a pity she never said it (or the name, or the address
or anything that could have helped.)
"Blood would tell."
Another vague statement but one related to police investigations.
Blood was often a key factor in solving crimes even in 1973.
Blood was not the key factor in solving this crime.
"The case would not be
solved for a long time."
Turns out this was true if you are talking about many years.
Just what 'a long time' means is open to interpretation so
if the case was solved in only one or two years, it could
still mean 'a long time'. I'm sure the family of the victim
would see it that way. Must trivially be true, in retrospect,
since the psychic does not get involved until some time has
already elapsed.
As with all the cases in this series, viewers have
no real idea if these things were really said at the time
or not. Also, we have no idea how many things the
'psychic' said or predicted that had no connection at all,
no 'hits'. These things, which are often numerous, are simply
omitted. For this show, the psychic is remembering all the
amazing things she 'said' over 30 years ago. However at the
time of recording, 2006, she had been reminded of all the
facts of the case. Is it any wonder she can make all the pieces
fit?
It turns out (if you can stand watching this tripe for 26
minutes) that real science and dedicated police work
solved this crime, years after the event, with a
finger print being the key factor. (The psychic missed that!)
What we were shown is nothing more than classic 'retro-fitting'
of various aspects of the case in order to make the 'psychic'
seem to be somehow on the money. It is pathetic.
Once again, the 'psychic' was
no help whatsoever in solving the crime.
6.
Psychic Investigators - Mick Hughes
ABC TV 8:00pm Thursday,
4 Jan 2007
The narrator for this series is an actress by the name of
Jennifer
Dale. She has a wonderful speaking voice but
I wonder how she manages to keep a straight face with lines
such as, “Her spirit allies show her the
terrible truth.” and “Can
Angela’s supernatural visions help bring the killer
to justice?” (As it turns out the answer
to this question is no.)
The terrible and recent (2003) murder of Mick Hughes in the
UK is the subject of this week’s weak episode.
A good assessment by ‘EoR’ can be found at http://thesecondsight.blogspot.com/2007/01/psychic-investigators-6.html
and I recommend you read the report found there.
(If you want the bottom
line, the ‘psychic’ provided no information that
was of any help to the police. This series is getting monotonous.)
I am glad to see that others are finding the time to analyse
this show and I congratulate anyone who can sit through this
tripe week after week. I wonder what Media
Watch will say about it?
8.
Psychic Investigators - Southern Organs
ABC TV 8:00pm Thursday,
19 Jan 2007
No death or missing child this time, just a couple of con
men. No help for police and by not dropping this show by now,
ABC TV show that they just don't care.
A good assessment by ‘EoR’ can be found at http://thesecondsight.blogspot.com/2007/01/psychic-investigators-8.html
and I recommend you read the report found there.
9.
Psychic Investigators - Mark Green
ABC TV 8:00pm Thursday,
25 Jan 2007
Confession time. This is the first episode of this pitiful
series that I missed seeing. Fortunately our friend ‘EoR’
has been on the ball. I once again recommend you visit this
site.
http://thesecondsight.blogspot.com/2007/01/psychic-investigators-9.html
Letters
from the ABC
(Many people have reported receiving the same
reply)
Dear Mr Saunders
Thank you for your email regarding Psychic Investigators.
The ABC regrets that you are unhappy about the decision to
broadcast this series. Psychic Investigators is a series in
which police involved in investigating crimes, in the absence
of evidence indicating the guilt of a particular perpetrator,
have called upon the services of psychics as a possible way
of achieving a breakthrough in a case. These are actual documented
police investigations and the police involved are interviewed
in the series, along with the psychic employed. Many of the
police involved state that they were initially sceptical that
a psychic would be of any help and that they were astounded
by the information they learned. The cases covered in the
series took place in the UK and North America and cover a
range of crimes.
Documentary programs broadcast on the ABC fall within the
'factual' category within the ABC's Editorial Policies and
Code of Practice. The ABC makes every effort to ensure that
documentaries meet all of the necessary editorial guidelines
set out in the relevant sections of the Editorial Policies
and the Code of Practice. For example, the content of documentaries
must be accurate and in context and must not misrepresent
any viewpoint. There is no requirement to provide equal time
to "opposing" perspectives within the same or a
subsequent program. The ABC is satisfied that Psychic Investigators
complies with both the Editorial Policies and the Code of
Practice. I have attached a link to the ABC's Code of Practice
for your reference: http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/codeprac04.htm
As the national broadcaster, the ABC has an obligation to
appeal to a diverse range of tastes. Nonetheless, your comments
about this series are noted and have been conveyed to ABC
Television.
Thank you for taking the time to contact the ABC.
Yours sincerely
Simon Melkman
ABC Audience & Consumer Affairs
A letter to another like
minded protester
Thank you for your email regarding Psychic Investigators.
The ABC regrets that you are unhappy about the decision to
broadcast this series. As the national broadcaster, the ABC
has an obligation to appeal to a diverse range of tastes.
Nonetheless, your comments about this series are noted and
have been conveyed to ABC Television.
I acknowledge your point that none of the episodes screened
so far have featured any evidence that the so-called psychics
offered any assistance to the investigations. The ABC does
not consider this to be contrary to the promotion of Psychic
Investigators as a documentary series demonstrating the use
of psychics to help police solve crimes. The cases selected
for presentation in the program were not chosen on the basis
of the success of the psychic in the case, but rather, the
involvement of the psychic, the availability of the participants
for interview, and the 'interest factor' of the case.
Finally, regarding your assertion that the ABC is "endorsing
this sham", I would point out that presenting a perspective
is quite a different thing to endorsing it.
Thank you for taking the time to contact the ABC.
Yours sincerely
Simon Melkman
ABC Audience & Consumer Affairs
The end is in sight!
Dear Mr Saunders
Thank you for your further email regarding Psychic Investigators.
While once again your concerns about this program are noted,
the ABC considers that its audience is discerning enough to
make up its own mind about the claims made in Psychic Investigators.
Richard Saunders comments - That
is this saying? The ABC know that the claims made on this
show are ridiculous but trust their viewers are smart enough
to realise this. Then WHY show it in the first place? Why
call it a ‘documentary’? Why would anyone, let
alone the ABC do this?
You may be pleased to note that Catalyst will return to the
ABC at 8:00pm on 15 February 2007 following the summer break.
Yours sincerely
Simon Melkman
ABC Audience & Consumer Affairs |