Dear Bruce,

That the two things missing in the article are <<tolerance and maturity>>

Ooops!

Did Judith trap the old nerve associated with "pontificating over the top of the ramparts of self righteous indignation syndrome"?

Pompous anyone?

Very valid comments Judith.

We shouldn't spend a billion dollars on something that others could provide from free and which is out of step with the views of the people who pay for it.

ABC = Anti Business Coalition

Let's face it people: When you lean to an extreme end of a political spectrum, it's easier to notice 'bias' of anything that doesn't agree with you all the time.

"The future involves a redrafted Charter".

Yes, badly needed.

There is no doubt that the ABC has strayed well out of the area that I always understood to be the original reason for its existence; providing what the crass commercial channels do not provide.
And yes, they do provide services that do not rate on the comparison charts with the commercials, areas such as national and international news, but no one in their right mind can say that the commercials do this job better, not for a second. It is, then, an indication that the viewers like their news to be uncomplicated and easy to digest. One could almost say, mindless.

The ABC's strengths lay in the programs that no one attempts to copy; Foreign Correspondent, Catalyst, Four Corners, Media Watch, Gardening, News and the 7.30 Report. Note, they are all Australian-made.

All local programs.

There is nothing that comes even close to this line-up, perhaps anywhere in the world. If that was the only contribution, that would be enough. But to this they used to add (and could do so again) quality British programs such as Dalziell and Pascoe, Wire in the Blood, Murphy’s Law, Rose and Maloney and many others. Now, however, due to budgetary constraints and the feeding of four TV channels, they have paid the price for the demise of good drama in return for those programs that must be seen as being of little value, many of which must be free of any cost, so poor is the quality.

Then we have the repeats and sadly, no one does this better, which when added to the costs of puerile promos, incessant advertising for their retail shops, their magazines and on, the ABC could easily be seen as a commercial network in all other ways.

This is what requires correcting.

Continued

If one must question anything it should be the need for four TV channels, repeating programs, ad nauseum, with perhaps almost the very worst selection of programs available, all I would guess as a result of the expansion and maintenance of this grand network, fifty percent of which serves little purpose. Who needs 24/7 News. Seen once, it then becomes yet another repeat, all day, all night.

The ABC has become an empire with champagne tastes but a beer budget. And over time, Scott seems to have lost sight of the reason that they are there, one of which is to provide a platform for good Australian programs and drama. As I said, they excel in the documentary and news areas but their record in drama is nothing short of disgraceful.

They gave failed miserably.

The recent attempts of East of Everything, Bed of Roses must have cost the earth to produce but let down badly by the quality of scriptwriting, which since the days of Seachange have not added anything to the national network’s reputation until Rake, seen as acceptable. Now Crownies, so far so good, but history shows that it is unlikely to continue with the same quality. So 50 years has not enabled a publicly-funded network to develop a quality group of artisans to provide local entertainment.

Failed, once again.

This is now the new ABC we seem to have to live with. A Mark Scott created empire with little to recommend it, full of second-rate programs, repeats and incessant advertising, conveniently called promos, legal under the out-of-date ABC charter.

But the time has not yet come for the ABC to become another mediocre player as with the networks of 7, 9, 10 and to a lesser degree, SBS. They are all one step away from emulating the force-fed pap and drivel from the likes of Fox and the US networks which have probably contributed more to the mindless population of the US, values askew, financially and morally bankrupt, than any other single factor.

Without the many quality ABC segments, we could become just as mindless

The usual ideological bias presented as economic theory, market failure is irrelevant.
The ABC and the commercial media are in totally different markets, the commercial media's aim is to keep the viewers/readers entertained between advertisements. There's no profit in accurate reporting.
At its worst, commercial media, with its tendentious 'news' reporting is nothing more than a propaganda outlet for plutocrats.

There might be an argument to trim the ABC's entertainment budget,however, the real target of the right wing ideologues is the Corporation's accurate and balanced political coverage.