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The Forum > Article Comments > Greatest challenge for ABC is reform > Comments

Greatest challenge for ABC is reform : Comments

By Max Rheese, published 4/2/2014

The ABC does provide a differing perspective from most commercial media, the diversity of which should be welcome, provided that perspective is presented in a balanced and genuinely informative manner.

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Reporting bias is not confined to the ABC.

A book by Myrna Blyth demonstrates how the media can and does manipulate the audience.

Even the so called commercial media interests manipulate their audience, current affairs programmes routinely use emotional hooks, at times over dramatising incidences
Posted by Wolly B, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 8:06:06 AM
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LOL thats one of the funniest posts on OLO to date. What utter garbage anyone who thinks the so called Climategate was anything other than a right wing anti-science beatup has got rocks in their head.

This post belongs on world new daily.
Posted by Cobber the hound, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 8:52:32 AM
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Compared to the Murdoch press the ABC is relatively free of bias. The ABC can be relied upon to give usually accurate and impartial reporting of the news. They are like a breath of fresh air after the crap broadcast on our commercial channels and newspapers. The ABC has made mistakes and too willing to give Hanson-Young and company air time. The debacle over live cattle exports need never have happened if the ABC was more willing to look into the cherry picked video produced by vegan animal rightist. The story on the boat people with burnt hands was another story pushed by the ABC without proper checking or common sense given the history of desperate deeds carried out by the boat people.
Posted by SILLER, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 8:54:12 AM
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There will never be any reformation of the ABC while politicians are scared of it. The rich socialist Malcolm Turnbull bent over backwards to assure Leigh Sales that he and his pathetic leader were not out to do any harm to her ABC. People have short memories; these limp warnings to the ABC are made every time a Coalition government pops up. And, every time, nothing happens. Boring!
Posted by NeverTrustPoliticians, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 9:13:45 AM
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Murdoch would love to buy the better bits of the ABC and Abbott would love to sell to a mate.

Watch the attacks on the ABC ramp up over the coming months.

The ABC makes mistakes but they are the only free voice that we have.

Can anyone imagine a commercial channel putting on the excellent "Eggheads"?
Posted by Is Mise, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 9:55:43 AM
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I'm sure Max get's all his fair and balanced news from the "australian" and the "telegraph".

What a joke but I guess if your to the right of Cory everything else looks left wing.
Posted by Cobber the hound, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 10:56:43 AM
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when your mindset is so set by dogma like the majority of the ABC you are unable to change it. Yeah gay marriage, Yeah hate Abbott, Yeah rotton Navy, Yeah champion UN, Yeah more funds for gw fantasy. The National Broadcasters are so predictable. What a waste of public moneys.
Posted by runner, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 11:01:25 AM
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What a great article. Straight simple factual accounts of the rampant bias that has driven so many away from what was once "OUR" ABC.
Even clowns like Cobber the dog couldn't come up with anything they could fault, so tried to attack climate gate. I'd hate to be that desperate. It must be hard watching the start of the destruction of another failed left grab for control.
Posted by Hasbeen, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 11:27:12 AM
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Hang on a sec, since when has the ABC/SBS been dedicated to promoting the values of ordinary Australians? Why should an organisation which seeks always to promote the values of the Anglo-Australian cultural elite be accountable to anyone outside that essential demographic?
Here's bolt from the blue, the commercial and pay channels reflect the values of the masses while the state broadcasters are the voice of the elite, ordinary people don't watch the ABC and people who watch the ABC aren't interested in watching Megafactories, CSI or Blokesworld.
Here again we see the elites and their supporters trying to externalise the threats to their institutions and value system by pressing this bogus left-right, urban-suburban trope when it's plain to to see that the problems are all coming from inside the upper castes.
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 11:38:07 AM
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The world has always been run by elites in every time and place.
Knowledge IS power.
The elites always control what is the allowable forms of "knowledge" in their time and place.
What is now called "knowledge" is of course controlled and propagated via both the Academy. And more importantly the captains of industry and finance via their now 24/7 proganda vehicles commercial radio and TV.
If it were left to the usual everyperson "informed" by the anti-wisdom of TV and commercial radio, and the non-wisdom of the streets and the hood to run the world then we would be little more than barbarians dramatizing the war of all against all as in East Los Angeles.

Yesterday there was an essay about how many young people are now functionally illiterate and cant even do simple arithmetic calculations.

So Jay is now suggesting that the ABC should cater to and promote the grossly simplistic and culturally impoverished world-view that these unfortunate souls "live" in. Ironically there grossly minded world-view is amply catered for via various "reality" shows such as the Biggest Loser, and what is actually called "reality" TV (do a google on the topic) The kind of titty-tainment described by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World.
He is even perhaps suggesting that these dumb-wits should have some say as to how the world is run! Do they even bother to vote let alone cast some kind of informed vote?

The modern everyman of consumer society is a propagandized individual, participating in illusions and effectively, self-destructing.
At present, a culture of total war, a culture of death, is ruling, while the people are engrossed in consumerism.

Commercial media promote what is described in the above two sentences. All the time telling people that they have never "had it so good".
Posted by Daffy Duck, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 1:19:23 PM
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Meanwhile this essay describes what a truly humanizing politics entails:
http://www.dabase.org/p8realpolitik.htm
You wont find anything remotely like that in the commercial media.
There is at least the possibility that something like that will at least occasionally be found on the ABC.
The author of the above essay also wrote these words.

"In our society there are basically two characteristic mentalities: 1. the childish mob-consciousness of the uneducated or merely "officially informed" mass of popular culture; 2. the adolescent mentality of those who comment on the childishness of popular culture, and who try to analyze that culture and awaken it to the independent mood of adolescence. Yet this typical adolescent never matures into higher or truly human development and responsibility."

Plus this which is again especially applicable to commercial radio & TV.
"The "News & Information" media of popular culture do not often invite the public to the exercise of discriminative intelligence. On the contary, the popular media THRIVE on hype, propagandized states of emotion and mind, and nondiscriminating responses to every kind of advertised goods, persuasions, and results.
Until the media that informs the mass of humanity begin to invite the individual to exercise discriminating intelligence in all matters, and until human beings in general become founded in the higher Wisdom-Culture and the intimate politics of authentic human existence, there can be no true wondering about the madness we inherent in the daily News."
Posted by Daffy Duck, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 1:45:11 PM
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"...., ordinary people don't watch the ABC and people who watch the ABC aren't interested in watching Megafactories, CSI or Blokesworld...."

Ordinary people do watch the ABC, I'm ordinary and I watch it.

Anyone who watches CSI would have some time to waste for sure.
Posted by Is Mise, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 1:51:36 PM
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Is Mise, you're not ordinary and neither am I, you know perfectly well what I mean.

Daffy Duck, Read my post again, we agree, why should the ABC be accountable to "Australians" when it is not only staffed and edited by middle and upper caste Anglo-Australians but from day one has set out to cater to their particular tastes? That is to ask, who cares what the ABC does as long as they are promoting the values of upper and middle caste Anglo Australians?
That's like expecting Al-Manar to simulcast "X Factor Israel".
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 2:15:22 PM
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Sorry, last line: "To expect otherwise would be to insist that Al-Manar screen X-Factor Israel"
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 2:17:07 PM
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A particularly fine post, reasoned, accurate with cogent examples. I do not mind the media bias as ascribed to both Faifax and Mudrock, I have the right to spend my money on whichever bias I choose, I happen to choose both. However, I DO mind being FORCED to pay for bias, whichever way that goes.

"What grieves me with the ABC is that its potential for much broader appeal is undermined by its unwillingness to adhere with the spirit of its own editorial policies."

Hit the nail on the head there Max.
Posted by Prompete, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 6:29:12 PM
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There's just no way that outfit can reform, it can only re-breed once the asexual component has been removed.
Posted by individual, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 6:36:56 PM
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Oh for goodness sakes!
I enjoy many of the programs on the ABC, and I don't take any of them, or the news shows, seriously.
It's only TV after all.

If people don't like the ABC, or feel all the journalists don't think the same way as they do, then don't watch it.

And don't carry on about public money being used on it, because there are many things public money is spent on that I don't believe in, but I have to deal with it like a adult.
Posted by Suseonline, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 11:14:36 PM
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Suseonline, "I enjoy many of the programs on the ABC, and I don't take any of them, or the news shows, seriously. It's only TV after all."

In vino veritas, Suseonline. That is a harsh criticism of the national broadcaster. Although many share your opinion, unfortunately.

Like you I would like a return to the days when Auntie had some credibility. It wasn't so 'engaged' with politics or so awfully politically correct. What's worse is that it lays its PC on with a trowel and so smugly. There is far too much gratuitous slime from Auntie too.

The SBS has it all over Auntie for news and films and it doesn't slavishly recycle as much from the BBC. The SBS should be allowed to stage a takeover. Call it diversity. Y'know, part of the diversity we have to have.
Posted by onthebeach, Wednesday, 5 February 2014 1:54:36 AM
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As a long-time leftie, I don’t particularly care anymore whether the ABC is ‘reformed’ – which is just code for ‘privatised’. It’s been so beaten up and worked over for so long, it’s barely a shadow of its former self. The 24-hour news service and mind-numbingly irritating kids channel was the beginning of the end as far as I’m concerned. Both these irrelevancies has gobbled up an already hopelessly starved budget to such an extent that the ‘real’ ABC has been rendered ineffectual.

Almost certainly, the right-wing oligarchy who rules the cultural narrative and everything else that controls our meagre and menial lives will get its way in the end. The sustained siege of the ABC has been applied full force since the mid-90s, with a slight respite during the Rudd-Gillard era, and is now ramping up again big time. Resistance is futile and the endgame is totally predictable.

Apart from the overt goal of eliminating once and for all the ONLY media mouthpiece left to challenge the right-wing oligarchy’s worldview - albeit ever so mildly and meekly since being starved of funding , sabre-rattled to death with accusations of ‘left-wing’ bias and stacked with right-wingers on its board during the Howard era - the ABC is WAY too big a cash cow to remain unprivatised.

I guess one upside is that full privatisation might end the ABC’s unhealthy obsession with anything and everything British. But that’s about the only upside I can think of.
Posted by Killarney, Wednesday, 5 February 2014 3:54:12 AM
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Killarney,

If the ABC budget 'hopelessly starved' it is because the prevailing political correctness has required duplicate services to be created, which compete with the ABC. Your complaint should be directed at the interests and governments responsible for those 'initiatives'. Public broadcasting sucks $1.5billion per annum from the taxpayers and that is exclusive of the indirect funding of 'left' and 'Progressive' ideology via the advertising and spin of quangos and NGOs, also paid for by the exasperated taxpayer. Surely you are not saying that (say) the spin of the Office of Women with Status (sic) or the Australian Human Rights Commission are creatures of the "right-wing oligarchy who rules the cultural narrative" are you?

<The most critical element unfolding is a move to rationalise the three state broadcasters supported by Australian taxpayers: the ABC, SBS and National Indigenous Television, at a combined current cost of $1.5 billion a year.

...The ABC, SBS and NITV could be merged into a single public broadcaster with a multichannel structure that exploits the rapid convergence of media technology.

A consolidation of the networks into one multichannel broadcaster would produce both cost savings and raise revenue via the sale of valuable broadcast spectrum freed up by the restructuring.
...
It is crucial to look past the irrational hysteria about political revenge and ideological warfare in any restructuring of the ABC and SBS. The government of the day has no control over the content of the ABC and there are no plans to dilute this valued independence.

The proposed efficiency analysis was instigated by Turnbull, not cabinet. It will examine the operational, governance, structural, financial and cultural issues within the three public broadcasters.

The context for cutting the cost of public broadcasting is the May budget, in which every agency of government will have to take a cut. Australia has just seen a $1 trillion explosion in government spending over the past six years, going from a budget surplus of $20 billion, and zero federal debt, to a budget deficit of about $50 billion and $667 billion in federal debt.>

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/abc-and-sbs-merger-simply-makes-budgetary-sense-20140202-31uwl.html#ixzz2sNfeIdL5
Posted by onthebeach, Wednesday, 5 February 2014 5:17:16 AM
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I enjoy many of the programs on the ABC,
Suseonline,
So do many of us. That's not what we're on about though is it ? We're talking about the politically & gender bias in the broadcaster which is funded by the taxpayer but is not representing the hand that feeds it.
Their incessant promos are making people even more stupid & insensitive. They're doing immeasurable harm to the psyche of Australians. Some Commercial stations are even worse.
You're just so far gone that you don't notice it anymore & that's the gist of it. Dumbing people down until they can't tell the difference anymore. Your certificate is in the mail.
Posted by individual, Wednesday, 5 February 2014 6:05:47 AM
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Suse doesn't take the ABC seriously but the Indonesians do and so do all the ratbag groups like GetUp which have carte blanche to do what they like and get favourable coverage by the ABC.

I personally think it is shame the ABC has degenerated to an inner city elite cum nuthouse with all sorts of fringe perspectives given a run.

It is not part of the ABC charter to dredge up neglected and oppressed minorities like the boat people and run concerted campaigns to denigrate the elected government's policies on this and other issues.

But this is what the ABC does; it's progressivism is simply reduced to a reaction that if the conservatives and drab mainstream Australia doesn't like it or is unaware of it then it will support it.

This sort of reactionary in your face approach is both puerile and a dreadful waste of money.

I would think at the very least after the debacle about the lies of the Navy torturing the boat people that the top echelons of the ABC, from Scott down should resign. The ABC's coverage and indeed promotion of this lie and the eavesdropping scandal before has been pernicious, deliberate and a gross betrayal of both Australia's interests and any standard of reputable news broadcasting the ABC ever had.
Posted by cohenite, Wednesday, 5 February 2014 7:47:23 AM
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Individual, if you think I am 'too far gone', then I take that as a compliment.

Cohenite, all the fallout from the burnt hands saga was reported on all TV stations, and I doubt anyone cares who reported it first.

The fact remains that while I'm sure no one believes our Navy personnel would torture asylum seekers, the silly 'cloak and dagger secrets' method of this Government reporting on the asylum seeker boats leaves us all in the dark on all these matters.
Posted by Suseonline, Wednesday, 5 February 2014 10:19:12 AM
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Suse, if "no one believes our Navy personnel would torture asylum seekers", why would those at the ABC believe it?

If they don't believe it, why would they publish it?

We all know the answer is that those silly little lefty girls that infest the ABC today would do anything to try to hurt Abbott. Truth doesn't come into it. They are stupid enough not to realise their over the top garbage simply damages their cause, & any real Australian gets upset when their idiocy damages the countries interests.

There is no excuse for this trash, & the sooner we trash them the better.
Posted by Hasbeen, Wednesday, 5 February 2014 4:08:54 PM
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I guess the ABC reported what the asylum seekers said, but maybe should not have insinuated that it was true. They should have said it was unfounded allegations.

 Hasbeen "...those silly little lefty girls that infest the ABC today would do anything to try to hurt Abbott. ."
Really?

Is that the best you have?

I very much doubt there are many little girls, silly or otherwise, involved in managing the ABC.
What with you being such an avid ABC viewer, you must know, of course.

"
Posted by Suseonline, Wednesday, 5 February 2014 8:37:03 PM
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I look on Jane Hutcheon as being a great reporter without bias and without the need to sensationalise. Compare her reporting to that of Channel Nines Tracy Grimshaw. I think these two illustrate the difference between the ABC and commercial television. The ABC stimulates thought while commercial Television sells junk food labelled as breakfast cereal mixed with news and opinion aimed at a level somewhere below our knees.
Posted by SILLER, Thursday, 6 February 2014 2:25:16 PM
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What on earth makes you think ABC management has anything to do with what goes to air Suse. They resigned their authority years ago. Best way to avoid being blamed when the stuff hits the fan is to have done nothing, absolutely nothing.

As for silly little lefty girls, have you tuned into the ABC recently? I must admit I haven't been there often, but my clock radio is still tuned there.

When I used it as an alarm the other day, [the only time it is on], I awoke to one of those silly little girls, fresh out of the lefty indoctrination course, journalism at QU, desperately trying to confirm her bias by telling us in 10 different ways that Abbott lied. She was after all supporting the labor lady lawyer standing in the old Rudd seat.

She could not really get a handle on what she was trying to say. She obviously did not quite understand what some other more experienced lady propaganda merchant had said, but boy was she trying hard.

So trying in fact, I turned her off. Yes we can ignore this blatant lying & propagandizing, so much worse with a by-election this weekend, but we should not have to pay for the crap.
Posted by Hasbeen, Thursday, 6 February 2014 3:56:49 PM
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Hasbeen "What on earth makes you think ABC management has anything to do with what goes to air Suse. "

What on earth makes you think they don't Hasbeen?
If the only time you listen to the ABC is as an alarm clock, then I doubt you know much about the ABC at all.

Just because you don't like watching or listening to the ABC doesn't mean many others don't.
I don't like my taxes subsidizing religious charities either, but I realize many others don't mind.

As for 'silly little girl' journalists, give me them anytime as opposed to old men with bad toupees who sound as boring as bat droppings..
Posted by Suseonline, Thursday, 6 February 2014 8:57:27 PM
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“I don’t particularly care anymore whether the ABC is ‘reformed’ – which is just code for ‘privatised’. Almost certainly, the right-wing oligarchy who rules the cultural narrative and everything else that controls our meagre and menial lives will get its way in the end.”

Killarney,
I’m not sure what you fear here. If the government media is privatised then the Murdoch whatever ‘oligarchy’ can only broadcast, to receive advertising revenue, what is popular with the public. If people such as lefties like you, amount to even 20% of the viewing/listening/reading public then that is more than enough to attract your own type of television and other media publishers such as Fairfax, Crikey, American MSNBC, the Guardian, CNN et al.

If your lot turn out to be even less than 20% then I don’t see the morality in a small minority demanding special government funding to accommodate your marginal points of view.
Posted by Edward Carson, Saturday, 15 February 2014 3:50:07 PM
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