Saw this topic as a screenshot on Reddit/The_Donald the other day, thought it deserved a full post. ( https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/6n1ku6/abc_caught_advertising_child_sex_trafficking_2/) )

Here's the original article by Sam Davis. The reporter tried to paint the gay men as the victims of tough regulation and societal disaproval of their lifestyle. ( http://web.archive.org/web/20100717021355/http://www.abc.net.au:80/local/stories/2010/07/14/2953694.htm?site=farnorth) )

Here's the Yahoo article from when the men were arrested for trafficking the boy they tried to adopt. ( http://web.archive.org/web/20131219182239/https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/17800543/qld-boys-horror-raised-by-global-pedophile-ring/) )

Here's the article from the same ABC station. ( http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-29/man-jailed-trafficking-adopted-son-paedophile-ring/4789730) )

The photographer of the article, Ginger Gorman, did issue an apology: ( http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-10/gorman-second-thoughts/4809582) )

Here's my commentary about the takeaways. First, unlike the claim on Reddit/The_Donald, this doesn't seem to me like ABC (Australian Broadcasting, totally separate from the Disney-owned American company) was trying to advertise for these men. They did issue an apology and unlike when some American news organizations get caught red-handed, they didn't remain silent or give a ton of excuses. Second, this is a prime example of why I have never been a fan of news stories that say "Oh, so and so is being kept out of X country because of it's unreasonable immigration laws." Usually customs officials aren't dumb. They have seen people try to pull all kinds of stuff. Tough immigration laws protect everyone. Looser boarder laws make child trafficking easier. Third, why did the photographer write the apology and not the author? It's commendable that the photographer feels remorse, but if I were Sam Davis, I would be putting out an apology of my own. When people research Sam Davis' writing, they will find this article. By not writing an apology, it makes him look worse. It makes me even re-consider the first point I made.

I'm glad I researched this article, when I glanced at the post on reddit, I assumed the American ABC ran a story that they never apologized for. I guess this is why it's better to read an article than to just glance at the headline.