The ABC’s new boss says the public broadcaster needs to be upfront when it makes mistakes but not be afraid to push back against its critics, as he rejected any similarity between the ABC and the BBC in their respective coverage of a speech by Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, ABC managing director Hugh Marks said the ABC had developed a “fearfulness of external forces” over decades that had bred a culture of defensiveness, adding that the broadcaster was better served by owning up to its mistakes quickly.

“We have to not cower, but we can’t be defensive when we make a mistake, own it. It’s not hard,” Marks said.

“People accept this is a fast-moving world. People expect journalism operates on a very fast cycle, and people are

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