All TV networks and news outlets have their own star journalists — reporters who are more than just reporters, who are promoted by their employers as evidence of its hard news credentials. Think Laurie Oakes, Jana Wendt, Sarah Ferguson, Hugh Riminton, Kate McClymont, Chris Uhlmann.

When the commercial networks and news outlets have their star journalists go rogue or cause a stir, there might be a bit of a PR mess (see: Karl Stefanovic). There might be ratings to deal with, there are advertisers and shareholders to consider, not to mention regulators.

But for the ABC, an extra layer of problems can crop up when there’s an issue with a star journalist.

Denis Muller, of Melbourne University’s Centre for Advancing Journalism, told Crikey that with any star at any network or outlet, one particular issue that can arise is that of having “unsubbable” copy — pieces they submit that subs don’t think they have the authority to edit.

Scuttlebutt among some senior journalists at the ABC think this may have been one of the contributing issues with the Emma Alberici kerfuffle. As the heavily-promoted chief economics correspondent, with her first big story (on a touchy political subject), the feeling among some staff is that, in addition to a confusing reporting/editing structure that the ABC says has since been cleared up, there wasn’t anyone who felt they were in a position to flag problems with a star journalist’s copy before publishing.

And where at a commercial outlet this may have caused a small blip — a Media Watch appearance or an adverse watchdog finding (as with Paul Sheehan’s atrocious Sydney Morning Herald column) — at the ABC it has led to an ongoing saga, scrutinised at Senate Estimates in February and potentially to be raised again tomorrow when the ABC is due back in Canberra.

“When you’ve got a star journalist with strong opinions on touchy subjects the ABC is more exposed to the risk of political blowback than commercial outlets,” Muller said. “And that’s because it’s government funded. It doesn’t have the benefit of financial independence from government.

“Where the ABC tend not to make good decisions in this area is where they anticipate strong political blowback. It’s bigger than the stardom thing. But the stardom thing heightens it.”

At estimates in February, the ABC’s managing director Michelle Guthrie and head of editorial policies Alan Sunderland were grilled over the Alberici article, with Sunderland saying her work had been seen by the business editor before publication, but should never have been published. In answers to questions on notice from that hearing, reported by The Australian today, the ABC said the news piece was checked for accuracy by the business editor, and the analysis was checked by the analysis editor, with no significant factual errors corrected, before the articles containing nine errors and omissions were published.

The reporting structure has since been tightened, which the ABC has said should help prevent the same problem occurring.

Former ABC Stateline presenter and staff-elected director Quentin Dempster, who is now contributing editor for The New Daily, told Crikey that the ABC had a responsibility to facilitate the “‘clash of ideas’ in our democracy”, including using its expert staff such as Antony Green to produce comment and analysis. “Unlike Fairfax or News Corp, the ABC takes no editorial position itself,” Dempster said. “But it facilitates audience engagement and the more informed voices it can get, the better it will meet its Charter obligation to inform the polity.”

He said that the now-axed opinion site The Drum hosted by the ABC had been a good idea, with content clearly flagged, and allowed informed opinions to be separate from the opinion of the ABC.

“The Emma Alberici case arose in 2018 and it became apparent immediately that ABC News online was missing the editorial resources and leadership that The Drum had provided. The mangling that Alberici endured at the hands of ABC management was awful. I’m hoping everyone has learnt from this experience.”

Muller said that most star journalists, both on the ABC and elsewhere, knew how to walk the line of interacting and being a real person on social media, without bringing their employers into disrepute.

“It’s not often a question of the issue that you buy into but it’s how you buy into it … You’ve got to rely on the intelligence and good will of the journalist. If someone goes rogue on you you’ve got a problem, but you shouldn’t be promoting stars who are likely to go rogue.”

Dempster said that it was appropriate for the ABC to ask its journalists to help direct online traffic to ABC content, but it also needed “top flight editorial backup”. “Otherwise nothing contentious will ever be commissioned or published and meek self-censorship will prevail. Taxpayers deserve fearless journalism from their public broadcaster in reportage, analysis … and opinion,” he said.