Notice how the author provides no reason whatsoever for government running a broadcasting service, nor any explanation how it could be anything other than privilege conferred on a few to run whatever biased propaganda they want, at the forced expense of everyone else?

The author doesn't even make any pretence of a claim to fairness or balance. All we get is the offensive attitude that she just stands for God's own truth. She regards with open disbelief the idea that anyone might be entitled to publish opinions different from her own!

Notice how she simply assumes every single premise and conclusion of her argument without even an attempt to justify them.

"Public broadcasting remains an essential asset in a democratic society..."

Bullsh!t. It is a relic of the age of fascist national socialism, and is a propaganda arm for big government, and how can it be anything else?

"surveys have shown repeatedly that the public trust the ABC."

Then they'll have no problem paying for it voluntarily will they? Total demolition of flaky self-interested argument by parasite.

"A news service in the public interest should be based on seeking and telling the truth."

Notice how Patricia does nothing whatsoever to establish that the ABC is in the public interest or any better at telling the truth than any other media service?

"This is a very different objective from balance..."

Glad we've got that out of the way.

" and one fundamental to democratic principles. Truth will emerge only when trained professional journalists are permitted to do their job without intimidation. The ABC must be adequately resourced to do this work."

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Talk about the nauseating special pleading of parasitic vested interests. They're not professionals, they're parasites. *Real* professionals are paid for voluntarily because people actually value what they do.

But there you have it, folks. The totally self-absorbed, self-referential, self-opinionated intellectual methodology of the ABC. What they're telling you is "We are just right, because we are just right! That's it! Shut up and pay, peasants!"

The ABC is a disgrace, a boom-box of totalitarian prejudice, and a liability to a free society.

It should be abolished immediately, and you couldn't want a better display of reasons why, than this article.

The problem with the ABC is that it has little if any interest In getting to the truth when it comes to key issues. I understand that the truth is a difficult concept. History would suggest that one of the best ways to get there is through Socratic debate and discussion. Listening to alternative and diverse option. Finding facts. Getting the evidence on display. But the ABC and this opinion writer are mostly interested in repeating respectable argument.

The ABC needs to be reformed.

Patricia. You have just produced an article justifying, in almost every sentence, exactly why I would seek a major overhaul of the ABC. The Drum, every day, 3 progressives, 1 conservative. Every 'news' topic selected by progressives and reported with excruciating predictability. The ABC line, directed by groupthink, follows the same path.

"Jesuit trained with an inclination to Jesuitical argument". Well well, having a go at the PM's. catholic background... What a surprise! You forgot to mention Bob Santamaria!

"Abbott's approach to this reality in opposition was to campaign with negative slogans providing little information; the technique worked, he was elected". This excruciatingly simplistic conclusion for the electorates decision to change government perfectly illustrates the mentality of the groupthink within the ABC.

The call for a review stems from this perception within the ABC that the electorate are uniformed simpletons and need the elite to tell us all what to think. Well guess what, it doesn't work. The real simpletons are those that produce articles with arguments like this.

A witless and ironic article; the author recommends we be afraid. Was she afraid when the previous government was promoting the Finkelstein enquiry's proposals to close down the free press including the internet?

No of course not because to the inmates of the left the Finkelstein abomination was a justified attack on Murdoch who was allegedly picking on Gillard.

This is wrong. Gillard was a bad, incompetent PM who deserved all the criticism she got and more.

The ABC is supposed to be an objective media outlet, it is NOT a counterbalance to an alleged conservative bias in the free media.

However the ABC is clearly anti-Abbott and more specifically an advocate for issues like AGW, the boat-people, illegal immigrants, Islam, gay marriage and a host of other left/green ideological positions.

Take AGW which the author groups with creationism and uses the thoroughly discredited 'consensus' to justify her ridiculous comparison. AGW is a disproven hypothesis; the evidence against it is overwhelming, it's advocates are fools no matter how many PhDs they have; the South Pole expedition with Turney and the recent wind paper by England show that.

There are many papers against AGW:

http://jennifermarohasy.com/2008/09/ten-of-the-best-climate-research-papers-nine-peer-reviewed-a-note-from-cohenite/

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=14179

http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/man-made-global-warming-wrong-ten.html

Alternatively the evidence used to support AGW is dreadful:

http://jennifermarohasy.com/2008/09/ten-of-the-worst-climate-research-papers-a-note-from-cohenite/

http://jennifermarohasy.com/2009/04/more-worst-agw-papers/

http://jennifermarohasy.com/2013/05/ten-of-the-worst-climate-research-papers-5-years-on/

http://joannenova.com.au/2010/07/another-10-of-the-worst-agw-papers-part-3/

For its biased coverage of AGW alone the ABC should be shut down. As it stands now the ABC caters for a small section of the community, the left/greens, who cannot accept the democratic result of the Abbott government.

It is the left who are undemocratic, censorious and oppressive. It is the rest of us who should be afraid if the mouthpiece of these petty tyrants is permitted at taxpayers' expense to continue to peddle its propaganda.

We need the ABC because it is now the only ad free site on TV.

The quality of its programmes is very good, one of my favorites is "Thomas and Friends" aka 'Thomas the Tank Engine'.
The stories are often unrealistic but the engineering is excellent.