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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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Well said Spindoc, From some one who lives in the regions, my first thought apon hearing the push for 24 hr news on the ABC, was just how many news stories on Sydney can you do?

I now longer whatch any Current affairs shows on ABC TV anymore. If it didn't happen in Sydney or overseas then it didn't happen. SBS isn't much better but a least their overseas CA programs are good. SA news at 7 spends about 10 mins at the most on local content, all of it dumped down tabloid stuff at best.
ABC radio is still okay, but it is but the trend is happening there to.
Posted by Kenny, Thursday, 18 March 2010 2:06:54 PM
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SpinDoc, well said - the ABC though, ignore business principles for some view that they have to provide balance, not of point of view but what they perceive to be lacking in the marketplace. Which is just wrong and not what they are intended to do, they are overly political and too far to the left of centre.

Hence as Mac says, "Murdoch media's case, anti-Labor propaganda" is not really that, it's just conservative, which most people are sold as anti-labor by the ALP and ABC. So the ABC N&CA feel their job is "quite rightly" to balance that perceived view, so they attack the coalition mercilessly. They are quite smug and self righteous in that role.

Their customers and audience are the faithful, mostly everyone else tunes out for N&CA to something else - the rest of the ABC is fine by me and most everyone else I've ever spoken to.

Murdoch and Fox have the following they do because they reflect what people want - not what the ABC does, the ABC is now so predictable they are an international joke.

Murdoch has a winning formula, give the people what they want - watch Fox in the USA, it has liberals on in equal numbers to conservatives - look at the ABC e.g. Q&A, usually 5 liberals to one conservative who is constantly cut off and sniped at, it is a disgusting misuse of privilege by the comperes, Tony Jones is a disgrace, he is never objective.

I have European and US colleagues come here and love to watch it, they think it's comedy and cannot understand that some people think it is intelligent and balanced.

Anytime I tune in to N&CA, they never let me down - I tuned into Q&A the other night, for 30 seconds, tuned out. You need a sturdy constitution to watch their programs, the bias is palatable.

Put them up for sale, sell them to the lowest bidder.
Posted by Amicus, Thursday, 18 March 2010 2:19:34 PM
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Well, let's hope the things are really sharp.

It would be a pity to just injure the beast, rather than put it out of it's misery.
Posted by Hasbeen, Thursday, 18 March 2010 2:39:27 PM
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I can't for the life of me understand the Murdoch press' complaints about the ABC. The national broadcaster appears to have become the audio arm of the Australian, particularly in its morning radio news and current affairs. The Murdoch broadsheet seems to be the main source for the stories/"analysis" of ABC news and AM journalists and the Radio National morning presenter. I suppose it beats doing the legwork yourself.
Posted by Agnus, Thursday, 18 March 2010 6:03:29 PM
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Postscript to my last post, after watching ABC television news.

The headline saying electricity prices will rise 60% because of Rudd's ETS was a clear example of the ABC's Murdoch-speak. The following story was reasonably balanced but the headline was misleading and just plain wrong, as was clear from the story.

What is going on at the ABC? - are they frightened that the Murdoch empire will control all media, so journalists and editors need to get their CVs in order for future job applications?
Posted by Agnus, Thursday, 18 March 2010 6:19:42 PM
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Some OLO’ers may have taken my criticisms of the ABC’s N&CA production as a desire to see them gone. Nothing could be further from my mind so I’ve extracted a bit from a similar post on another thread (on indulgence) by way of explanation

“I lived and worked in 29 countries in a period of 35 years. Wherever I was, the only link with real and balanced news and current affairs was the ABC and the BBC. The rest was local political propaganda dross. Generations came to trust these public broadcasters, even in America we would drive 250 miles north to the Canadian border on a Saturday to listen to the BBC international news. (OK, I admit, we did pick up a carton or two of half decent Canadian beer). In the Middle East, Asia, South America and the Soviet Union, our preoccupation became finding access to these highly respected news broadcasts (even locals in foreign countries were as thirsty as us).

Colleagues tell me, and I recently solicited comment, that these broadcasters are now widely regarded as just as narrow, sectarian, minority and PC oriented as local media. What an absolute tragedy.

If current generations have no such reference points, then their defense of the ABC is probably understandable.”

Hope this clarifies my position.
Posted by spindoc, Friday, 19 March 2010 10:45:07 AM
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It amazes me that anyone actually considers that the utter crap which is puked out of so called australian commercial channels actually qualifies for being considered as quality content.

My view is that, even though there are some notable quality content exceptions from SBS & ABC, the overall package of what is available in Australia is pitiful.

Admittedly, I am not up to speed on all of the pay tv content currently available but I can tell you what we get here in Bali in terms of 24 hour news channels.

RussiaToday, AlJazeera, EuroNews, Japan NHK, China News, BBC/Sky, and all the usual N.American offerings AND more.

Even though even at this level there are often common concurrent content broadcasts, I ever so much enjoy the different take from different peoples who speak a different language and have entirely different cultural backgrounds, levels of learning etc etc.

Of course IndoSat comes replete with subtitling and multi language tracks, not that many content producers take advantage of it, but some of the better ones do. EXCELLENT!

Of course, tin pot Australian Network does not. Such a shame, as I hold the view that notwithstanding its parochialism, Australia has a valid contribution to make to the advancement of the consciousness of the world and international people want to know what we think, as distinct from that <snip> <snip> murdoch and his ilk.

Thus, if producing a 24hr news channel is done with a view to taking a seat at the international table then it is a worthy pursuit i.m.o., but if it is just more regurgitation of the same sort of crap currently available, then I wouldn't bother in favour of waiting for video and live video on demand.
Posted by DreamOn, Sunday, 21 March 2010 12:00:26 PM
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