By Jacob Shteyman in Canberra

The ABC inadvertently added extra gunshot sounds to footage of Australian commandos firing from a helicopter, an independent review has found.

Veteran journalist Alan Sunderland found in an interim report that there was no evidence the additional audio was introduced to the video in order to deceive or mislead.

The review, released as ABC executives fronted Senate estimates hearings on Tuesday, was commissioned in response to complaints about the ABC Investigations team’s Line of Fire story in 2022.

The stories, which were originally broadcast on the 7.30 program and subsequently featured on ABC’s online platforms, raised questions about the conduct of Australia’s 2nd Commando Regiment during a deployment in Afghanistan in 2012.

Mr Sunderland also found the ABC misleadingly edited an interview with former US Drug Enforcement Administration leader Bret Hamilton.

Mr Hamilton’s comments that war crimes should always be investigated were not in their proper context and inaccurately represented that he was talking about war crime allegations in general rather than specifically about the troops in question.

ABC news director Justin Stevens sincerely apologised to members of the 2nd Commando Regiment for the editing errors and said the content had since been removed.

“Obviously this shouldn’t have occurred and we’re taking it, and have taken it, very seriously,” he told Senate estimates.

Mr Stevens noted Mr Sunderland found the errors did not misleadingly alter the central focus of the story and the issues raised were significant and remained of public importance.

There was also no evidence the changes were done at the prompting of journalists.

Instead, it appeared to be an “inadvertent consequence of attempts to create clean, accurate and effective sequences in the story”.

Mr Sunderland rejected complaints that a section of footage was slowed down, zoomed in and highlighted, saying this wasn’t misleading, inappropriate or problematic.

Controversy surrounding the footage flared up when it was featured in an episode of rival Seven Network’s Spotlight program in September 2024.

Mr Stevens said the program’s scrutiny was warranted.

“(But) the perpetuating allegation that it was intentionally doctored was false, as is shown by the independent review, and not an accurate characterisation of what occurred,” he said.

The journalists involved were accustomed to a higher level of scrutiny that was part and parcel with producing investigative journalism, but that could at times be unfair, he said.

“The general lack of civility in public discourse … actually has a very damaging effect on individuals and journalists,” Mr Stevens said.

“It actually leads to issues related to their safety and security at times.”

The review, which is ongoing and yet to make findings on what actions the ABC took when it first received complaints about the footage, made five recommendations, including reviewing the broadcaster’s editorial policies, training and editing practices.

The ABC will publish a correction regarding the editing errors and append an editor’s note clarifying the context of Mr Hamilton’s comment.