I’ve found the ABC is ‘usually’ quite balanced in both content and presentation but definitely more thorough and offering a much more diverse range of views than say 7, 9 and 10. If more balance means “look how many germs we found in you kitchen wetex”, or Ann Coulter, PULease leave ABC as is.

And if we are referring to ‘our’ ABC let’s not disregard ‘our’ public. According to Newspoll, “4/5ths of the Australian public believe that the ABC does a very good or quite good job of being balanced and even handed.”
http://search.abc.net.au/search/cache.cgi?collection=abconline&doc=http/www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/newscaff.pdf.pan.txt

In a Roy Morgan poll when asked: “Which TV stations do not accurately report the news?” the ABC scored lowest at 6.5%. The survey includes some very interesting responses from journalists!

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:6wsth068qksJ:www.roymorgan.com/resources/pdf/papers/20040903.pdf+survey+media+bias&hl=en

I think for real media balance you just have to get it from a variety of sources but if you can’t then the ABC is a pretty good second option.

Of course those of the soft option persuasion find the ABC even handed and unbiased.Many of their workers have moved from the protected environs of home to school to perhaps uni and then to Dear old Aunty.Why would they want see another side to the real world ?

"How dare those facists Libs preach self reliance and personal responsibility.Social security,free health are a right and the Govt should do something."How often do we hear the words"the Govt should do something."?We are the Govt and it's better that we do more things for ourselves,since Govt will cost us three times as much.

Self-reliance and responsibility? Apart from the private school system, the aged care industry, private health insurance corporations and any other company that receives bucket-loads of government handouts I'd say Australians are pretty much self-reliant. But in regard to the ABC, to me it's a service I pay for that happens to be government run. Big deal. It hasn't undermined my self-reliance. In fact, often I'm actually able to change channels all by myself without the Minister for Communications telling me. And what do I find? Usually unwatchable sitcoms or "reality" programs. Not that the ABC is not guilty of that. But it'd be nice to find something different. How about "The PP McGuinness Hour"? Or "Miranda Devine in the Morning"? That'd brighten up my day.

"Miranda Devine in the Morning"?!?

Sweet heaven forfend!

Nice to see a bit of irony in this forum.

The left wing bias in the ABC is inherent because the ABC spends more time on news and current affairs than any other station and journalists are overwhelmingly left wing, as David Marr said last year.
I have been a journo for a few years now and must say that I am very much outnumbered when it comes to being a conservative.
The problem is that a lot of journalists see themselves as progressives yet they are still living in a world 30 years ago. Gough Whitlam is no longer Prime Minister, communism has failed and for the most part Australians have moved on.
A lot of people are conservative in this country and the views of many journos are in stark contrats to the public - who have voted in a conservative government four times in a row.
Perhaps that is why the ABC and SBS (without the cricket)have the lowest ratings and newspapers such as The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald are losing readers at 3-4 per cent per year. Yet The Australian is growing and many regional papers are growing where they match the opinions of the wider community.
The ABC isn't biased of itself, journalists are.

t.u.s

[Of course those of the soft option persuasion find the ABC even handed and unbiased.Many of their workers have moved from the protected environs of home to school to perhaps uni and then to Dear old Aunty.Why would they want see another side to the real world ?]

And maybe many have. I can't help quoting from my favorite old lefty, Bob Ellis in 'First Abolish the Customer, 202 Arguements Against Economic Rationalism':

"In the Australian Broadcasting Commission of 1967, for instance (of which a fair number of this readership will know little) there were unusefully employed in various apprentice, menial, underworked, superfluous and clerky positions Michael Charlton, Mike Carlton, Richard Carleton, Bruce Beresford, Bruce Best, Peter Best, Paul Murphy, Maurice Murphy, Andrew Olle, Bob Connolly, John Hepworth, Bob Ellis, Bill Peach, Carl Schultz, Caroline Jones, Margaret Throsby, Pru Goward, Robyn Nevin, Ray Martin, Ray Alchin, Tony Morphett, Geraldine Dooge, Clive Robertson, Ted Robinson, Ted Roberts, John Tranter, Chris Masters, Kerry O'Brien, Geoff Barnes, Andy Lloyd-James, Jim Davern, Roger Hodgman, Allan Ashbolt, Storry Walton, Gil Brealey, Gerald Middleton, Stewart Littlemore, Spike Milligan, Peter Luck, David Salter, Michael Pearce, George Negus, Bruce Petty, Graham Kerr (the Galloping Gourmet), Graham Kennedy, Peter Couchman, John Penlington, Bob Moore, Bob Carr, Peter Collins, Robyn Hughes, Robin Williams, the Oscar winner John Seale, the Oscar Winner Dean Semler, the Oscar nominee Richard Francis Bruce, Rober Gibson, John Weiley, who directed Imax's 'Antarctica', John Duigan and - in the mail room - Ric Birch, directory of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games of 1992, 1996 and 2000."

I don't presume to know the careers of many of these people. Of the one's of whom I have heard, I think Australia is a culturally richer place for their media careers. If these careers could only start because of a sheltered, soft start in the ABC, then three cheers for the ABC. Perhaps they needed to take jobs in this protected environment because daddy couldn't find them a job in his company.