A petition calling for Channel 10 current affairs show The Project to be cancelled is gathering steam online.

The Change.org petition 'Get The Project Cancelled' accuses the left-leaning news program of airing 'vile, un-Australian material'.

Its author, James Hamilton, also claims the hosts 'recently accused a cricketer of racism before quickly retracting the statement'. 

The petition states: 'Time and time again, Channel 10's The Project has aired vile, un-Australian material and accused people of racism with no basis in fact.

'Recently accusing a cricketer of racism before quickly retracting the statement, they have now made fun of the visually impaired mother of a fallen soldier.

'Enough is enough. If something needs to be taken off the air, it is this show!

'People are being attacked left, right and centre for expressing opinions, yet this show, full of unprofessional pseudo-journalism, wracked with mistakes, inflammatory comments and insults, is allowed to operate with impunity.'

The petition is on track to reach its initial goal of 500 signatures by Thursday morning, after which it may extend its target.

The cricketer mentioned in the petition is most likely South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who last month refused to take a knee in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

He was criticised by Indigenous ABC News Breakfast presenter and occasional Project panellist Tony Armstrong, who said de Kock's actions were 'racist'.

De Kock, who comes from a mixed-race family, later issued an apology and explained his actions by saying he felt his rights were 'taken away' after players were ordered just hours before the game to take a knee. 

In response, Armstrong scaled back his criticism during an appearance on The Project, and said de Kock's apology was 'incredible'.

'Full credit it to him for coming out with such a strong statement, really explaining what it was all about,' Armstrong said.

Co-host Waleed Aly, who is of Egyptian background and is Muslim, also leapt to de Kock's defence and said he understood the cricketer's reluctance.

'Especially when it came out that he was just told on the way to the ground and all of that sort of stuff,' Aly said.

'I think that there's a thing that sport has to think about here, which is, it's one thing for sport to take a stand...

'It's another thing when you compel every player to take the same stand, especially when you compel them a couple of hours before a game.'

Aly said it was unfair of Cricket South Africa to spring the directive on players and that though he himself would have complied by taking the knee, he understands why de Koch took a defiant stand.

The petition's reference to 'mak[ing] fun of the visually impaired mother of a fallen soldier' concerned an on-air gaffe that aired last Thursday.

The show aired a 30-second clip of Yvonne Sher, 65, who is the mother of a deceased army soldier, attending a Remembrance Day breakfast at the RSL in Doncaster, Melbourne, where she was seated next to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Comedian and guest host Nath Valvo mocked her as she sat with her back turned to the PM, while completely unaware she was visually impaired. 

'Scott Morrison was at an RSL having a feed, as you do, and I think this woman had absolutely no idea - or did she? Here's more info about situs slot 4d deposit pulsa look into our own web page. ' Mr Valvo said as the video aired.

As Ms Sher sat with her back facing Mr Morrison, Mr Valvo added: 'She's pulling up a seat. She is unaware... look at this, she's even shuffling back, giving him the cold shoulder.'

'Don't know if she knows? He knows,' he added, referring to the Prime Minister. 'Oh! There he is. It's the PM! Look at that.'

Ms Sher, whose son Greg, 30, was killed during a rocket attack while serving in Afghanistan in January 2009, was devastated when the segment aired last Thursday.

She told : 'They've tried to make me look like an idiot who doesn't know who the Prime Minister is - it was so humiliating.'

Channel 10 was not aware Ms Sher was visually impaired when it aired the clip with Mr Valvo's commentary.

She has since received a phone call from one of the show's producers, who apologised for what happened.

Mr Valvo also apologised to her daughter-in-law via social media, with The Australian reporting he wrote: 'Huge sorry to you and the family… If we had known any of this, we would have never shown it.

'It's no excuse but please know the intention was to poke fun at the PM.' 

Even if the Change.org petition does reach or surpass its goal, Channel 10 is not obligated to cancel The Project. 

In fact, network executives may well be popping open the champagne.

Media writer Vivienne Kelly said on the podcast last week that TV bosses secretly love it whenever there's a petition to cancel a show.

Ms Kelly said the outrage rarely leads to a show being pulled from the air, and execs instead tend to be thrilled with all the free publicity.

Despite months of worryingly low ratings, The Project and The Sunday Project will be returning to Channel 10 next year.

The network last Friday issued a statement about the future of the show in response to reports about its dwindling audience.

'Recent media reports inferring that The Project will not be on 10 in 2022 are completely fabricated, false and misleading,' a spokesperson said.

'The Project has just celebrated its 12th birthday and is here to stay! At a time when information, context and understanding is more important than ever, The Project will continue to provide Australians with their dose of news delivered differently.'

It comes after the future of Channel 10 as a viable commercial network was questioned following a horror year which saw tentpole shows such as MasterChef Australia, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette bomb in the ratings.

In addition to a string of crushing defeats in prime time - including the failed launch of Making It Australia - The Project is losing viewers year on year, and Studio 10 and 10 News First are on a worrying downhill trend.

While 10 has a decent audience on its streaming platform 10 Play, it is struggling in the overnight five-city metro ratings, which remain a key metric for advertisers when it comes to judging a show's success.

There are now fears the network simply can't go on like this if the numbers don't improve, with former TV executive Rob McKnight saying: 'This is a network that is dying in front of our eyes.' 

However, Channel 10 rejected these concerns, saying some of the figures being bandied about in the trade press were misleading - especially given that TV viewership is down across the board.