ABC removes more episodes by sacked reporter Mahmood Fazal

An ABC review of sacked reporter Mahmood Fazal's use of anonymous interviewees has found three more episodes of concern from Four Corners and Background Briefing.

Two episodes have been withdrawn and another has had a short segment edited out.

A separate ABC Ombudsman review into two Four Corners episodes is still underway.

The ABC has withdrawn a further two episodes by sacked Four Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal and edited another due to concerns about anonymous interviewees.

Fazal's employment was terminated in May after an ABC investigation into his appearance on a podcast with a former underworld figure last year, ABC managing director Hugh Marks confirmed at a Senate estimates hearing in May.

Since then, two episodes he reported for Four Corners, titled Cocaine Nation and Meth Highway, have been removed by the ABC due to accuracy concerns. A Background Briefing audio program he reported, titled Remy was 12 when she became a drug dealer, was also removed later in July.

In a statement, the ABC said it completed a review of anonymous interviewees in all stories reported by Fazal for the two programs, which identified concerns with three more programs.

"The review found that in each of these cases ABC verification policies concerning the use of anonymous interviewees were not followed to a level that meets our editorial standards," the statement said.

"Therefore, in order to ensure complete confidence in published content, we have taken the decision to remove them."

Two stories — Four Corners episode Silent Orders and Background Briefing episode Meet the teens at the frontline of organised crime — have been removed from ABC platforms.

A short segment contributed by Fazal in the Four Corners episode The Postcode Wars, in which he says he visits a drug “trap house”, has been edited out.

"Outside of this segment the episode meets our editorial standards and will remain available online with an editor’s note," the statement said.

"The ABC is committed to journalism of the highest standard. Maintaining the trust of Australians depends on upholding those standards and we take any concerns about our journalism seriously."

Fazal, a former member of the Mongols bikie club, is an award-winning journalist specialising in reporting on crime, violence, imprisonment and terrorism, whose reporting has appeared in VICE, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.