Wall St was down 94 overnight, its biggest fall in a month, while the local market is down 66.
The tangled Chaser chain of responsibility
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The responsibility for authorising last week’s controversial edition of The Chaser has become less clear cut with the revelation that the head of ABC Television, Kim Dalton, attended the green room at the ABC studio after the taping of the show. An anonymous insider has told Crikey that he or she saw Dalton in the audience for the taping of The Chaser, suggesting that he would have been aware of the content of the infamous “Make a realistic Wish” sketch before it was aired last week. But Dalton has denied this, explaining to Crikey that he was actually at the screening of Jane Campion’s new film Bright Star on the night in question. However, after the screening he returned to the ABC and attended the green room. ABC TV publicity says he arrived at the green room after the taping of The Chaser had finished. The question of whether this has any bearing on the ABC’s review of its vetting processes depends on whether Dalton became aware of the content of the show before it was aired. It is possible that he attended the green room, but did not ask about the content of that night’s show. It is also possible that none of the people he spoke with that night discussed the segment they’d seen. But this is surprising given the sketch about terminally ill children has created such a sensation since. The same anonymous insider suggested to Crikey that Dalton would have viewed a tape of the show because it is normal practice for him to receive one each week. ABC Publicity has told Crikey that “Kim didn’t watch the episode before it went to air and it’s not his usual practice to do so.” Although this response doesn’t quite answer the question whether it is normal practice for him to receive a tape of the show each week before screening, a member of The Chaser team has confirmed to Crikey that Dalton wouldn’t ordinarily see the program before it goes to air. The ABC operates on a policy of upward referral, meaning that any controversial item is sent up the chain of command. As Media Watch explained last night, the upward referral stopped in this instance at the desk of Amanda Duthie, the Head of Arts, Entertainment and Comedy at ABC Television. She told Media Watch that she viewed the “Make a Realistic Wish” sketch before it aired and neither referred the decision up to, or notified, ABC Television’s Executive Head of Content Creation, Courtney Gibson or Dalton, as Head of Television. The member of The Chaser team told Crikey that he was sure that Dalton didn’t attend the green room after the taping, suggesting that Dalton’s visit was indeed brief. |
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8 Comments
In other words, you just wasted my time with this article…
I mirror Bret’s comment, what is so tangled about an upward referral system, chain of command?
Dalton hung out in the green room after studio taping, had a couple of drinks and this is meant to be revelatory?
Can you cut the crap with this story altogether?
They made an error of judgement. They have appologised. Compared to the damage the shock jocks have done and continue to do on trash radio their’s is a petty misdemeanour. The internal politics of the ABC may be extremely interesting to the political junkies at Crikey (and Media Watch), but to the rest of us it’s a big yawn.
Robert Garnett is right. A large mistake was made. The Chaser crew have been rebuked, they’ve apologized. End of penny section.
Time for the ABC to sort it all out. More comment such as the above article is disingenuous and irrelevant.
I agree with all the above as usual the mainstream media blow up everything into a circus .
I am a doctor and know the consequences of terminal illness, I am sorry but I still laughed loudly at the skit.
The irony of satirising [sp] such a serious subject was funny for me.
That doesnt mean that the Chaser team didnt understand that cancer is hell.
Comedy is a very personal thing .
If the Chaser’s stinky stunt didn’t exist it would have to be invented.
The whole dead cat bounce is a reprise of the Bill Henson fracas in the wake of the Sydney Writers (Labor Luvvies) Festival along a mirror schedule on a 12 month cycle:
None of the semi literate right wingers (Devine, Price, Hackerman etc) get a gig or an invite at the SWF. Then in the next week or so the Fangs of the Right take their revenge for being dissed.
An own goal by the Fangmeisters of the Cultural Left last year involving the blessed innocent child images of Bill Henson, this year it’s the Chasers.
Arguably tere is a trend thing about misconceiving (!) the role of children in society in both cases, a favourite topic of the especially family friendly and religious Right.
Here’s a tip - invite some of them to the SWF like PJ O’Rourke or run the same gauntlet next year, and year after and after. Mark my words.
Simon Davis3. Good comment.
Instead of demonizing everything the right-wing press should go down on their knees with gratitude. In fact they should genuflect to the Chasers. Thanks to them the Herald Sun gets to run its nauseating and incessant photo gallery shots depicting dying mums, grieving relos and revolting little children with jam-smeared faces. Eyes crossed in concentration the subjects dutifully follow the photographer’s instructions to look distraught.
Straight and honest reportage runs contrary to every fibre of the paper’s owner. Honesty compels me to admit anyone who buys this paper will do so because of its lamentable ‘tits and tossers’ subject matter.