Channel Seven says Pauline Hanson still welcome after Koch Christchurch accusation

Channel Seven’s Sunrise program will continue to give Pauline Hanson a platform each week despite host David Koch’s fiery exchange with the One Nation leader about her vilification of Muslims.

“We never shy away from debates,” the executive producer, Michael Pell, told Guardian Australia. “We canvass both sides and the viewer is left to make up his or her own mind.”

The Seven network, along with other media organisations, is under pressure to distance itself from politicians who express divisive views about race in the wake of the Christchurch massacre.

Television networks have also come under fire for airing edited footage from the killer’s GoPro vision which was livestreamed on Facebook.

The Australian Communication and Media Authority has taken the unusual step of launching a formal investigation into whether airing the GoPro footage filmed by the perpetrator breached broadcasting regulations.

“The ACMA’s investigation will focus on any content of the perpetrator-filmed, livestreamed footage of the shootings that was broadcast on Australian television,” the media watchdog said on Monday.

“The ACMA is also concerned about content made available or linked to on broadcasters’ websites. While this is currently beyond its regulatory remit, the ACMA is in close contact with the Australian Press Council as it reviews its members’ coverage of the attack.”

The ACMA chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, will write to commercial, national and pay TV broadcasters requesting “urgent information on the nature, extent and timing of the broadcast of content relating to the shootings, in particular from the day of the attack” and has requested urgent meetings with the industry bodies.

Viewers have inundated Channel Nine’s social media pages with complaints about vision on Weekend Today and A Current Affair which opened the show with seven minutes of the killer’s film before he entered the mosque. “I definitely WONT be tuning in if you continue to show that horrendous footage – NZ police and officials and countless others have asked the media to not show it – yet it continues – have some respect for the victims, their families and the wider community-PLEASE TAKE IT DOWN,” one viewer wrote about Channel Nine.

The networks say they will continue to do so when appropriate.

Pell said Koch’s confrontational interview with Hanson did not indicate the co-host was going to distance himself from the Queensland senator, who has been a regular on the program for years. Hanson is not paid but the program does make a donation to her favourite charity for her time.

In her regular Monday slot on the top-rating breakfast show, Hanson was asked by Koch if she took any responsibility for the massacre in Christchurch given her history of anti-Muslim sentiment.

“This terrorist manifesto almost reads like One Nation immigration and Muslim policy. Do you feel complicit with this atrocity?” he said.

Koch suggested rightwing white extremists were “egged on by your [Hanson’s] comments, by your anti-Muslim comments”.

He said statements by Hanson along the lines of “they don’t deserve to be here” and “they will take over our country” inflamed the situation. “Can you understand how that empowers a white supremacist ... into seeing it as a call to arms?” he asked.

But Hanson refused to accept the point and repeated her rhetoric about immigrants causing problems in Australia and the UK.

“We have problems but you’ve actually got to discuss it and debate the issue. Why we have these terrorist attacks in this country. Why is it happening around the world? Why is it happening in many places?’

Sky News Australia was heavily criticised for airing parts of the shooter’s GoPro vision and was taken off air temporarily in New Zealand on the weekend because it was too distressing for viewers. The two broadcasters are separately owned.

On Saturday Sky New Zealand said in a tweet and an interview with Guardian Australia that the Australian channel was dumped because it continued to broadcast “distressing” images.

But on Sunday, the Sky chief executive, Paul Whittaker, insisted that he instigated the removal of the channel and it was due to legal considerations only.

“At this time of great sadness, I am disappointed that we are compelled to correct mistruths surrounding our coverage of the events,” Whittaker said in a statement.

“Some media reports wrongly state that Sky in NZ has withdrawn our live news feed because of distressing video. This is not correct.

“With Sky NZ’s agreement, we took the preemptive and precautionary step to switch our live news feed to sports coverage early Friday evening to ensure any live coverage or commentary taking place in Australia, outside of the NZ jurisdiction, does not impact the unfolding events in NZ.”

The New Zealand platform has deleted its original tweet about distressing footage. Sky New Zealand has declined to explain why the reason for dropping the feed was changed.

News Corp, and the Daily Telegraph in particular, highlighted the role Facebook played in the Christchurch tragedy by allowing the 17-minute killing spree to be streamed on Facebook Live.

The paper’s front page blamed the digital platform giants for “failing to remove extremist content which has been on their platforms for years”.

But News Corp has taken no responsibility for publishing highly inflammatory articles such as “The foreign invasion” by Andrew Bolt last year in which he said migrant communities were not assimilating and were failing to always speak English.

Seven’s news chief, Craig McPherson, said it wasn’t the commercial broadcasters who should be blamed but the digital platforms.

“Our teams have been meticulous in treating this heinous act with care and sensitivity while at the same time giving our viewers the information required,” McPherson told Guardian Australia.

“The greater media issue is that anyone can put anything unchallenged and unfiltered on global digital platforms, where no one appears accountable or responsible for allowing this lunatic the platform.”

Rallies are being organised around the country against racism and bigotry in the media.