Producer warned over Q& A blue

THE ABC board has chastised Q& A executive producer Peter McEvoy over the show’s decision to feature convicted criminal Zaky Mallah, issuing him with a formal warning.

It comes as an independent review of the show by former SBS managing director Shaun Brown and veteran journalist Ray Martin will look at audience and panel selection, subject selection and its social media strategy, including on- air tweets.

The board met yesterday to discuss last week’s episode and late yesterday broke its silence in a statement agreeing with ABC management’s appraisal of the terrorist sympathiser’s live appearance as “wrong”.

“The issues involved with considering Mallah’s appearance should have been referred up to senior management under editorial policies,” the statement said.

“The executive producer of Q& A acknowledges the failure of editorial process and judgment around this episode.”