Comedy chief demoted over Chaser skit

The ABC has demoted its head of TV comedy over a controversial Chaser skit about
sick children, saying airing it was an error of judgment.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the broadcaster said Amanda Duthie had been
stripped of responsibility for comedy programs after a review of how the "Make a
Realistic Wish" skit made it to air in The Chaser's War on Everything.
"The segment should not have been broadcast," the ABC's managing director Mark Scott
said.
"We recognise that it caused unnecessary and unreasonable hurt and offence to our
viewers, and the broader community, and we have apologised for this.
"We have determined this was not a breakdown in our editorial policy processes but
rather an error of judgment."
Mr Scott said that under the broadcaster's editorial policies Ms Duthie should have
referred the skit to the next level of management.
"Where staff are concerned about the potential for satirical material to cause harm
they should refer the matter to the next level of management," he said.
"In this instance, the Head of Arts, Entertainment and Comedy reviewed the segment
and did not refer it up."
Executive head of content creation, Courtney Gibson, will take over Ms Duthie's
responsibilities for comedy programs until a permanent replacement is found.
"Amanda will continue to be responsible for Arts and Entertainment programs," the
ABC said.
Ms Duthie's demotion followed confirmation that The Chaser's War On Everything will
return to the ABC on June 24 as planned, after two weeks in the sin bin.
Stars of the program last week apologised for the skit depicting dying children
making deathbed wishes, which was subsequently cut from online broadcasts.
Public outrage led ABC management to pull the series for a fortnight while it
conducted the review of its editorial approval processes.
"They will be back on Wednesday the 24th," a corporate affairs spokeswoman for the
broadcaster said.
It's still unclear whether the current 10-part series will be reduced to eight
episodes.
The program's slot on Wednesday and next week will be replaced with Tracey Ullman's
State Of The Union, an American satirical comedy series.
Debate is raging about the show on social networking site Facebook, with more than
750 people joining a group calling on the ABC to scrap the program and another group
garnering more than 500 members in support of the show.