In what is being read by ABC staff as an attack on them, Mr Newman said the media had accepted issues at face value and had suppressed the voices of climate change sceptics.

His comments, in particular those on climate change, drew an angry response from senior journalist Jonathan Holmes.

Witnesses report that Holmes, who last week wrote about the media's role in reporting climate change on the ABC's opinion site The Drum, congratulated Mr Newman on his speech but then said that he was so angry he could barely concentrate.

It is not the first time that Mr Newman, who describes himself as a climate change agnostic, has provoked controversy. Nearly three years ago the ABC board pressured the broadcaster to show a British documentary questioning the science behind climate change.

In yesterday's speech Mr Newman said the media had failed in their reporting of the global financial crisis and of government policy.

''There were a handful of sceptics who challenged and warned of the dangerous consequences these policies presented, but the media, the consensus of experts, and the vested interests prevailed,'' he told the ABC's annual leadership conference.

His most scathing criticism was reserved for his own organisation, which had failed to let climate change deniers have their say.

''At the ABC, I believe we must re-energise the spirit of enquiry. Be dynamic and challenging, to look for contrary points of view, to ensure that the maverick voice will not be silenced.''