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ABC Deny Requests For Documents On #Tay4Hottest100

The #Tay4Hottest100 controversy lives on, with the news that the ABC has declined to release certain documents concerning the reasons for their decision not to allow Taylor Swift’s hit song Shake It Off in their annual Hottest 100 countdown.

The ABC reportedly received an information requests about the campaign from The Guardian, and in response have invoked a provision in the Freedom of Information Act that allows them to refuse requests for “program material” – or documents that pertain to the creation of a program.

According the The Guardian, the ABC’s corporate governance head Judith Maude said part of their request applied to documents that “would not have been created but for Triple J’s Hottest 100 broadcast”, and so, due to the aforementioned provision, the ABC did not have to release them.

While the ABC did release some documents to The Guardian in response to their Freedom of Information request about the controversial #Tay4Hottest100 campaign, most of those were reportedly emails to journalists declining to comment on the issue.

To recap briefly, earlier this year the triple j Hottest 100 was bombarded with a campaign, spearheaded by Buzzfeed, to get Shake It Off into the annual countdown. Triple j stayed silent on the issue until the day of the Hottest 100, when they published a Buzzfeed-style article outlining the reasons why the Taylor Swift song was not allowed into this year’s countdown.

According to triple j, had it not been disqualified, Shake It Off would have landed at number 12 on the final countdown. That spot went to Glass Animals in the end, with their track Gooey.

The documents that were released reportedly reveal some of the outrage listeners felt about triple j’s handling of the issue. “Triple J claimed the hottest 100 was a democratic process, yet disqualified one nominee,” said one voter. “I am concerned that in doing this, triple j ignored the legitimate votes of many people.”

“I think it’s shameful that you removed Taylor Swift from the Hottest 100,” wrote another. “I will never tune into JJJ again.”

On the other hand, another listener wrote to the station before countdown day appealing for them not to make the Taylor Swift track eligible. “Your silence surrounding the Taylor Swift Hottest 100 drive demonstrates a loss of ethical backbone,” said the concerned listener.

“If Triple J stands for what it has stood for for the last 40 years, you would come out and simply state that Taylor Swift is ineligible for the Hottest 100 for the same reason Miley Cyrus, Sam Smith and Flo Rida are ineligible: their presence on the Hottest 100 would defeat the purpose of Triple J.”

Triple j’s Buzzfeed-style explanation about their decision can be viewed on the still active triplejfeed.com. This years Hottest 100 countdown was won by Chet Faker who has nabbed the coveted top spot with Talk Is Cheap.

Gallery: 12 Things We Learned From Triple J’s Hottest 100 – A Statistical Listicle

Watch: Taylor Swift – Shake It Off

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