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The Forum > Article Comments > The knives are out for the ABC > Comments

The knives are out for the ABC : Comments

By Darce Cassidy, published 18/3/2010

In gunning for the ABC, commercial media are aiming at the wrong target.

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Interesting,

"needless duplication" -very amusing,commercial TV doesn't provide news but entertainment and in the Murdoch media's case, anti-Labor propaganda. The commercial media could always improve the quality of their product, of course,but it's much easier to lobby the government.
Posted by mac, Thursday, 18 March 2010 9:32:24 AM
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It sounds like the fundamental principle of to-day Justice.

Why more to him and not more to me?
Posted by skeptic, Thursday, 18 March 2010 10:35:51 AM
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I have to agree with mac and his views on the commercial media. However , by macs' own admission , Murdochs Media does provide one very very important contribution, namely .." anti-Labor propaganda "

This helps to balance Red Kerry and his fellow travellers on the ABC.

The ABC would be perfect if it wasn't political.

disclaimer; I will have to take macs' word that the Murdoch Press is anti-Labor. I refuse to read their newspapers.
Posted by Aspley, Thursday, 18 March 2010 10:44:32 AM
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Dear Darce, as a former ABC Journalist and manager you should fully understand that a managerial response to anyone complaining that competitors are making “strident attacks” on us would elicit only one response. Good, that’s what they are supposed to do, now what are you going to do about it? Only losers complain about Competitors because they should be focused on Customers.

There are only eight attributes of concern to any enterprise. These are Product, Market, Channel, Service, Customer, Supplier, Regulator and Competitor.

Competitor comes last for good reason, until you know and fully understand the first seven, you cannot even define your competitor, let alone “defend” against being “attacked”.

The ABC and SBS do a great job on general programming; they are in my view, a standout against the commercial outlets. The problem is in News and Current Affairs, once a great strength historically, now fast becoming a liability. I know this because the ABC chairman has identified it as a “business issue”.

The reasons for this are the failure to define the Product, its Market, the associated Service requirement, the Channel (to market), who the Customer is, the right Supplier based upon the Product /Service mix and a failure to build all the above within the current Regulatory environment.

This translates into competitive attacks on the ABC’s weaknesses identified by their competitors, rightly identified by you as “Murdoch and the Fairfax/Rural Press media interests”. What are the competitors attacking? Well it ‘aint Bananas in Pajamas, its N&CA, right?

You suggest that “commercial media are aiming at the wrong target”, I respectfully suggest you are the one ignoring the targeting co-ordinates.

Continued:
Posted by spindoc, Thursday, 18 March 2010 12:52:29 PM
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Continued:

Competitor strategy will always telegraph your weaknesses.

The ABC chairman has pointed it out; ABC’s N&CA “Customers” are turning to internet based alternatives because they are not getting the “Product/Service” mix they want from the ABC and competitor attacks have confirmed the ABC’s weakness. Like I said, one of the ABC’s greatest strengths is fast becoming its biggest liability, just like the BBC.

Any business entity must understand its strengths and weaknesses and be agile enough to respond to them, just how many times and from how many critical sources does the ABC need to have it pointed out?

If your solution is to request more public funds for ABC regional and 24 hr news and for changes to an “advantageous” Regulatory environment in order to compete, then first the business case questions and existing market failures need to be understood and answered. Why should more public funds be tipped into a declining market share?

Whilst I suspect your article comes at the issues from a journalistic perspective rather than managerial, I’m strongly opposed to such distractions from the real issues.

I am desperate to see the ABC, SBS and the BBC News and Current Affairs, regain the lost credibility that was once their biggest competitive advantage. Why and how, I keep asking myself, would such a solid, international reputation for accurate, balanced, critical, fearless and analytical reporting be p*^$#@d against the wall?

This loss of Brand Image is one of the great marketing tragedies of our times and unforgivable, second only to the Swiss giving away the digital watch to the Japanese in the 1960’s. So many years to craft and so easily lost. Perhaps it’s like lost virginity but we can only hope not.

We must never, ever blame competitors for our own business failures.
Posted by spindoc, Thursday, 18 March 2010 12:55:39 PM
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Look,

Herman 101 shows that it's no secret that commercial media and their owners, and conservative governments will do everything in their power to dismantle public independent broadcasting; using arguments that "they are no different to us"; shouldn't be government funded, and should have to take on commercial advertising with the inevitable consequences on programming ideology and allowable content.

However, the ABC clearly doesn't need that impetus to dive to the bottom of the pond. Who knows what (maybe some tribunal could find out) drove Australian Story to rush to air to spread a GP's baseless fear campaign to (probably) swing an election in Tasmania; it showcased the very worst of shallow, sentimental, innuendo-laden baseless commercial tabloid television, as bad as the Chasers nonsense from last year, and worse that the Laws Cash for Comments case; at least he did it for the monney; the ABC sold their credibility in hope of a Logie.

In that context Alston was dead right - the ABC behaved as expected of commercial TV; if they keep this up without censure they should be regarded as no different to commercial TV and be privatised after all.

If they wish to support their own contention that they warrant separate treatment as they are structurally different then they have to start acting structurally different.
Posted by hugoagogo, Thursday, 18 March 2010 1:06:50 PM
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