On the same day, 17 December 2024, the government has given the ABC some more money and promised to look at a new law to safeguard its independence. And the ABC Board has announced its choice for a new managing director: former CEO of Nine Entertainment Hugh Marks. A plethora of Christmas presents, all of which ABC Alumni broadly welcomes – though in the case of the government’s decisions, with reservations. HIGH MARKS FOR HUGH (for now) First, the appointment of Hugh Marks as the ABC’s Managin...

Tim Bowden, 1937-2024 Legendary ABC broadcaster, producer and author TIM BOWDEN died on Sunday, aged 87. He was a war correspondent in Vietnam, the maker of ground-breaking radio oral history series, the presenter of Backchat on ABC TV, and the author of 18 books. Tim was awesomely talented. Perhaps even more important, he was greatly loved, by colleagues and by the Australian public. Tim, who was always a stalwart supporter of the ABC and its staff, was the third person, other than the foundin...

By ABC Alumni Board Director, and former Editorial Director of the ABC Alan Sunderland Previously published on ABC Online.It is hard to imagine a wilder, more chaotic or challenging situation for someone to take on the job of ABC Managing Director than the one David Anderson faced when he was thrust into the role five years ago. Lest we forget, the previous occupant of the position, Michelle Guthrie, had been sacked by the Board halfway through her contract and was still considering her legal o...

A statement by ABC Alumni 22 August 2024  The Managing Director of the ABC, David Anderson, announced today his intention to leave the ABC.  This is despite his re-appointment by the ABC Board for a second five-year term only last year.  ABC Alumni respects David’s decision, and thanks him for his extraordinary contribution to the ABC over more than thirty years. David was appointed in an acting capacity in 2018, following the turmoil that saw the previous Managing Director, Michelle Guthrie, s...

The Australian’s ferocious attacks on Laura Tingle following her off-the-cuff remarks at the Sydney Writers’ Festival have ignited a wider debate about the ABC and its impartiality, as the paper no doubt hoped. ABC Alumni subscribers will have differing views about the wisdom of Laura’s remarks, and the robustness of the ABC’s response – as indeed do the directors of ABC Alumni. But your Board is happy to endorse these reflections in praise of Laura’s work by Alan Sunderland, who as a former Ed...

On 23 April 2024, former ABC National Arts Reporter Anne Maria Nicholson spoke to the Central Coast branch of ABC Friends NSW in Gosford.  This is an edited version of her speech.Today I am going to try to answer three questions: Why do the arts matter?  Why should they be reported?  And is the ABC doing the job well enough these days? In the darkest days of the pandemic, when at times all hope seemed lost, people around the world turned to the arts for comfort.  The most basic of human cries f...