The ABC is not 'left' enough in my opinion. Any more "balance" and I will be down to one tv station which I can stomach, SBS, which is also not really 'left' enough.

What all of this rubbish means, is that "your" ABC will become "their" ABC (which, when you think about it, is all it ever was anyway).

That the ABC has bias is quite clear to anyone who listens between the lines so to speak.
I have a relative who works for the ABC.
He is one of the few closet liberals in the organisation.
He knows some of the others but they do not admit to other than labour or green politics
if they want to continue working or get on in the place. He refers to the ABC as the Media Branch of the Labour Party.

Sad isn't it ?

Kalin has a good point. If the ABC did change significantly it would just drive its audience elsewhere for a version of events that suits their worldview.

That being the case, perhaps the longer term purpose of these changes is to reduce the audience to such a small trickle that closing it down altogether can be justified.

I disagree that the new rules threaten OLO in any way. The media and OLO are chalk and cheese. How's it going anyway? Is it about time for another OLO community survey Graham?

All media production contains bias, this is just a thinly veiled attempt to protect the Federal Government and those who sponsor it from investigative reporting. Investigative reporting no longer exists in the commercial media save a few independent rural newspapers which local rumour has it the predators are circling in on. The Howard government has survived solely on the propaganda the commercial media has generously provided them as it is possibly the most incompetent and anti democratic government in Australian history. But that’s ok that’s business and we Australians have to and have learned how to exist despite our Government and our media.

The commercial press, commercial television and commercial radio is at best garbage, that is not a bad thing - it has to be garbage, it has to appeal to the lowest common denominator. That is not a bad thing; the material they offer is accessible and understandable to people of extraordinarily low intelligence. Why should people without their complete faculties be excluded from entertainment?

I do not consume commercial media. I myself, friends, family and associates are consumers of the ABC many of us have discussed this and if the ABC changes to suite the Howard agenda, simply we will have no media. Its back to books until big brother censors them too. We will write our own books until big brother censors us.

So, the ABC has to be 50% in favour of the govt, and 50% against in all its programming? Or is the ABC's charter to even out the imbalance we see in all the other media? In which case it should be about 3,000% against the right wing interests and the current Federal government.

I think the ABC's job is to *PROVIDE* balance, not to be *IN* balance within its own programming. If all the commercial networks take one approach to a story, the ABC should be free to take an alternative view, without having to restate the commercial network's stories as well.

Left and right are concepts of the immature. I am not reflecting upon you Indulis I am not saying you are immature but the media and Australian Government shows immaturity for clinging onto to those old out dated Marxist concepts. To humour the issue what is “left” and “Right” on the ABC? News and Current affairs on the ABC are restrained compared with the commercial media. It is just Trash TV and Radio, the Alan Jones’s, John Laws, A Current Affair, Today Tonight, and Sunday, Meet the press and Sixty Minutes. I won’t call the last 5 gutter journalism because it is just not journalism. Commercial TV caters entirely for the lowest socio-economic groups in Australian society, those who make watching TV a career. That is why the game shows, Big Brother , Australian Idol ect and American rehash dramas such as Greys Anatomy, CSI ect , use the exact same inanely simplistic formula and regurgitated story lines and read board acting across production because the target audience is in virtual and perpetual intellectual hibernation. Its not right wing, it is just the visual version of junk food. The same thing applies to commercial FM radio breakfast shows. The only consciously ‘right’ wing media would have to be Christian radio which if you have ever heard it has a definite party specific political agenda. It appears to be a command post for followers, broadcasting orders to listeners to what to think and do.
Australian Comedy on the ABC such as the glass house could be classified as left leaning but compare it the pointless wet grey sock that is Rove.
Two things come to the fore that seems to be the motivation for this push for politicisation of the ABC. It appears obvious that the Government has a problem with Lateline allowing guests giving two sides of a story. A Tampa Government cannot afford to have an informed public. The other Media watch which has not been biased just embarrasses the worst of the Liberal Parties sponsors. I think it’s sad because the Government has once again vilified itself