The IPA’s opposition to the ABC as a fully government-funded, independent public broadcaster is well known. If the conservative, free market advocacy group had its way, the ABC would be privatised. So it’s no surprise that the IPA’s submission to the current Inquiry into Media Diversity in Australia contains a litany of derogatory claims about the public broadcaster, which the ABC strongly refutes, labelling them “inaccurate and misleading”. For more details, read the ABC’s response to the IPA’...
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Author: Janet Clayton
2021: Here we go again!
If Australians had to make a choice of greater trust between Dr Janet Albrechtsen of News Corp and the IPA or Dr Norman Swan and the ABC, is there any doubt about whom most would choose? Eric Hunter takes a look at claims made by some ABC critics, and the challenges facing the ABC in 2021By Eric Hunter / 15 January 2021
The ink had, figuratively, barely dried on the Alumni’s summing up of theABC’s great achievements during 2020 when the anti-ABC attacks started all over, marking an inauspicious...
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This is the year that was. The ABC in 2020
It is to the ABC’s credit that despite ongoing budget cuts, debilitating staff losses, attacks from government and right-wing lobby groups, and a dollop of controversy, our much-loved major public broadcaster has nevertheless performed exceedingly well in this 2020 “annus horribilis”.By Eric Hunter, 1 December 2020
It seems a bit trite to say we never thought 2020 would turn out the way it has. First, the disastrous bushfires that started even before last summer got under way, then to be hit by...
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Ita takes on ABC critics
ABC Chair Ita Buttrose has spoken out strongly against ABC detractors in a wide-ranging speech delivered to the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation .
Ms Buttrose said the ABC is crucial to maintaining a strong democracy and must be well funded. She called on the government to lift the current indexation freeze on ABC funding and to increase allocations for its emergency services broadcasting.
She also said that the ABC intends to push for legislative reforms to better protect journalists and...
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ABC and the digital dilemma: what’s next?
The ABC has historically been flexible with the technologies it uses to transmit its content to consumers. Today’s technology landscape is changing faster than ever and the ABC must continue to straddle the old and the new if it is to remain available to contemporary as well as traditional audiences. The Alumni’s tech expert Peter Marks surveys the ABC’s tech history and the current state of broadcasting technology..By Peter Marks / 19 October 2020
The rate of change to technologies affecting A...
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China, media freedom and rebuilding Australia’s voice in the Asia Pacific
Jemima Garrett and Sue Ahearn of eminent Asia Pacific media group AAPMI argue that if the ABC is to grasp new opportunities it needs to lobby in Canberra with innovative proposals and to do more to articulate its unique value in international broadcasting.By Sue Ahearn and Jemima Garrett, co-convenors of the Australia Asia Pacific Media Initiative (AAPMI)/30 September 2020
With China ratcheting up its information push, media freedom under threat and regional media looking to Australia for suppo...
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Les Miserables – Killing the ABC in a time of national emergency
The ABC is rightly proud of the profound trust from audiences evident through the bushfire and pandemic national emergencies, but its paymaster, the Morrison government, has not responded to ABC Board pleas for respite from defunding. In this comprehensive article, Quentin Dempster discusses the fallout from ongoing staff and program losses, and serious challenges still facing the public broadcaster.By Quentin Dempster/ 16 September 2020
Empty chairs at empty tables …where my friends will sing ...
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Committee falls short on media freedom
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security published its long-awaited report on “the impact of the exercise of law enforcement and intelligence powers on the freedom of the press” in mid-2020. ABC Alumni press freedom spokesman Jonathan Holmes finds its proposed solutions “fall sadly short”.
The committee has not seriously considered a Media Freedom Act nor exemption from prosecution for journalists genuinely engaged in public interest journalism. Instead, theyrely on the us...
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Farewell Janie Lalor
Janie Lalor was an ABC legend; a highly skilled director and producer who made thousands of television shows for the ABC during a 40-year career. As importantly, she made thousands of friends along the way.Facebook tributes are studded with words like “irrepressible”, “spectacular”, “huge personality”. All true. Janie was an Adelaide girl who kicked off her career with ABC News and Current Affairs in the mid 1970s. From temp typist to PA to director on News and This Day Tonight.
Later Janie too...
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ABC loses AFP raid challenge
In February 2020 the ABC suffered a crushing defeat in the Federal Court, in its challenge to the validity of an AFP search warrant on its Ultimo headquarters relating to a series of stories known as The Afghan Files. Jonathan Holmes has been following the case closely and offers these observations of the judgment.By Jonathan Holmes, 17 February 2020
Over eight months ago, on June 5th last year, Federal Police officers executed a search warrant on the ABC headquarters in Ultimo, Sydney, and t...
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