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The Forum > Article Comments > ABC guidelines - one more skirmish in the culture wars > Comments

ABC guidelines - one more skirmish in the culture wars : Comments

By David Tiley, published 29/1/2007

A sceptical dissection of the Editorial Guidelines announced by new ABC Managing Director Mark Scott. Best Blogs 2006.

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The ABC is clearly and perhaps irrevocably compromised by political interference by the Liberals.

New ABC boss, Mark Scott, 'deliberately' - his word - presented his maiden speech at the Sydney Institute, well-known for its harping right-wing attacks on the ABC. Imagine it being presented, say, at the Evatt Foundation - oh the outrage! Scott was clearly showing his political masters - at Kirribilli and at the ABC Board - the white flag of compliance. From today, the ABC means to tilt the balance further in your favour.

Scott's appointment has a context. As David Tiley says: "No less than four people on the ABC board were or are op-ed writers for the Murdoch press, and use their columns to run highly partisan rants. Brunton, Albrechtson and Windschuttle are prominent Right wing intellectuals, known for a hostile attitude to the ABC." And all recent Howard appointees.

Of all the programs run by the ABC why in his speech did Mr Scott single out just one program, Media Watch, for a 'review' of format and content? Scott said this review would 'ensure there is more opportunity for debate and discussion around contentious and important issues'. Remeber he is addressing the Sydney Institute which has felt the sharp end of comments on Media Watch. The message is clear.

The decision (just days before Scott took up his appointment) to renege on the book "Jonestown" is clear evidence of a deterioration of the ABC's independence and integrity. The ABC was leant on by friends of Alan Jones, a powerful supporter of John Howard. The rationale given by the ABC - that the book was not likely to pay its way - was totally unconvincing. The commercial publishers are making a fortune at the expense of an intimidated and impoverished ABC.

The costs to the ABC for the Jonestown fiasco amounted to $127,126.50 of which the ABC has recouped just $49,626.50 from a smiling Allen and Unwin, who picked up the book after the ABC went ot water. Allen and Unwin got themselves a bargain.

Scott's speech to the Sydney Institute is at http://abc.net.au/corp/pubs/media/s1766775.htm
Posted by FrankGol, Monday, 29 January 2007 3:18:14 PM
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Dear Frank....

are you suggesting that the previous appointees were 'politically unbiased, completely fair minded and represented the whole of Australia' ?

c'mon mate. The corrollary to 'they will be more biased' to the right is that they were previously biased to the left mate.

I'd prefer a centrist approach, but I guess this kind of thing is the price we pay for a political/social environment of 'us/them' in Labor/Coalition.

I think I'd vote for Maxine McQue though. She is a beautiful person inside and out.
Posted by BOAZ_David, Tuesday, 30 January 2007 7:47:23 AM
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We deserve truth and honesty from 'OUR' ABC and we are going to get neither from the left or the right.
From Media Watch to Kerry OBrian, we get a slanted [their way] version of events. Can there ever be neutral anchor person?
I notice that when ever there is a school room scene on the news , the camera is nearly always aimed at an Asian scholar. Are there any Anglo Australian scholars or have they all become extinct? One would never know from watching our ABC.
Posted by mickijo, Tuesday, 30 January 2007 2:10:48 PM
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David, you missed the key point - that Brunton, Albrechtson and Windschuttle had been actively and publicly undermining the ABC including writing anti-ABC stories for competing media outlets, and that alone should have disqualified them from membership of the ABC Board. They brought a particular bias to their Board seats. Can you give me an instance of an ALP appointee to the Board who had that kind of track record?

Mickij, perceptions are not always reliable especially if you have an inclination towards a particular view. Do you have any statistical evidence to support your perception that 'Asian' scholars hog the cameras in Australian education stories? Second, are you referring to Australians of Asian background or to Asian students?
Posted by FrankGol, Tuesday, 30 January 2007 3:46:45 PM
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frank gol, I am referring to the ABC's fondness for portraying pictures of Asian students as part of their PR for Multiculture. There is no other reason for it, it is not the student vying for publicity, it is the camera man who aims for it .Probably under orders to do so if possible
Posted by mickijo, Thursday, 1 February 2007 2:30:42 PM
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mickij, I asked you two specific questions:

1. Do you have any statistical evidence to support your perception that 'Asian' scholars hog the cameras in Australian education stories?
2. Are you referring to Australians of Asian background or to Asian students?

Your reply ignored both. So we still don't know if you have hard evidence or you're just telling us how you feel. Nor do we know what you mean by 'Asian students'.

Why am I not surprised at your evasion?
Posted by FrankGol, Thursday, 1 February 2007 5:19:09 PM
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Yes, Frank. Is mickijo being miranda-ish?
Although Mickijo raises a general though obscure point as to what we could call the "design" and symbolism of the commercial-style format increasingly favoured at Auntie and SBS. There are the bells and whistles, hard on the eye visuals and provocatively stupid voice-overs crammed into increasingly long interruptions between programs. The incessant peddling and marketing of superfluous junk itself serves to remind us that significant people in the background ( typified by Scott himself ), are in no mood for that irrelevant "substance and content" stuff; ideologically in thrall to neo liberal dogma as they are.
Tiley mentioned "Lords of the Forest", the brilliant critique of environmental reactionism over the last fifteen years in this country, as shown by the pointless and costly destruction inflicted upon Tasmania by a small and greedy cabal of the privileged. We recall stories on 4 Corners involving the corrupt and corrupting PPP debacles concerning transport infrastructure in the eastern states, water policy as exemplified by Cubbie Station, deregulation of labour and financial markets in the USA demonstrating implications for Australian labour and culturalintegrity arising from AUSFTA, the undermining of AQIS and CSIRO, deliberately created problems with higher education and a whole gammut of similar issues which have SUBSTANTIAL implications for the futures of Australians.
The recent proposals concerning water policy by the PM demonstrate why the public needs to know, because we now know from what has happened with Iraq, or say the ABC, that the government will gladly sacrifice efficency and commonsense in the pursuit of its clients vested interests and voodoo ideology dislocated from reality.
Scott himself is a longterm coalition stooge. He did damage to broadsheet journalism during his reign at the SMH, and he signifies an attempt to remedy the mistake made with Shier.
This time they want the bite; not the bark. Scott is enough of an ideological zealot in the worst Henderson tradition to approach his task without even a flutter of conscience. As Heydrich was to Bohemia on behalf of the Reich, so is Scott to the ABC for brownshirt Howardism.
Posted by funguy, Sunday, 4 February 2007 5:27:02 PM
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