The ABC of independent news
|
It didn’t take long for Sky News’s Angelos Frangopoulos to lash out at the ABC’s announcement of its new 24-hour news channel. A media release emerged shortly after Mark Scott’s statement, raising the spectre of core ABC services being starved of funding and “needless duplication of services already available to Australians.” One CEO’s “needless duplication” is of course another’s discipline of the market place. The ABC announcement has fed into what has become perceived to be a News Ltd v public broadcasting debate. But Sky News isn’t actually controlled by News Ltd. It’s a one-third-each venture of PBL, Seven and BSkyB, which is itself less than half-owned by News Corporation, although noted BBC fan James Murdoch is BSkyB’s chairman. Even so, News Ltd takes a proprietorial interest in the local Sky. Former company lobbyist Malcolm Colless fills in his time waiting to replace Piers Akerman as the company’s Conspirasist-in-Chief by writing richly amusing political “commentary” and regularly putting the case for Sky to replace the ABC as operator of the Government’s international broadcasting contract. Colless never reveals that in 2005 he tried to convince the Howard Government to do just that but was unable to, despite the Coalition then being at its most Ultimo-phobic. Nevertheless, it’s possible to have some sympathy for Frangopoulos, given Sky has, on oily-rag level resources, built up a fair dinkum 24 hour news service over the years, only to see the publicly-funded entity barge into its carefully-nurtured space, leveraging off its vast newscaff output and reputation, offering for nix what is currently a subscription business model. Charging people for news content just got that little bit harder, at a time when media companies desperately need to find a way to do just that. That the ABC stuck its hand out for an extra $35m a year for a similar proposal in 2003, but now appears to be able to do something even more resource intensive without any extra call on the taxpayer, also raises questions about how seriously the ABC’s funding bids should be treated. But sympathy for Sky was possible only up to the second paragraph of Frangopoulos’s press release, where he said the new ABC service “goes against the ABC charter to provide services that commercial broadcasters are unable or unwilling to provide Australians.” I’ve seen some funny interpretations of the ABC Charter in my time, but that one pretty much takes the cake. For a moment I thought Stephen Conroy had somehow snuck through a new ABC Charter that required the ABC to do only the crap that no one else wanted to do. But no. As always, the ABC “shall take account” of services provided by the commercial and community broadcasting sectors, and its Act specifically enjoins it to “have regard to” SBS. But its charter obligation is to “to provide within Australia innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard as part of the Australian broadcasting system consisting of national, commercial and community sectors.” Moreover, news programming is the only genre singled out in the ABC Act as a requirement – the effective provision of news by the ABC imposes specific duties on the Managing Director. We’re talking here about legislated requirements. This isn’t ABC Shops, a decidedly non-core activity that, leveraging off taxpayer-funded content, directly competes with the private sector in a manner that for mine barely avoids breaching the notion of competitive neutrality. Private sector concerns about the ABC competing with them should not always be dismissed out of hand. It may be no consolation to Frangolopoulos and the hard-working and talented people at Sky News whose futures are directly affected by the new ABC service, but, funny thing is, the new service is exactly in accordance with Frangopoulos’s peculiar interpretation of the Charter. It will provide a service commercial broadcasters are unable to provide, by definition – an independent news service. That’s the phrase in the Act, by the way – “independent service for the broadcasting of news and information”. That can only be provided by a non-commercial broadcaster, because however rigorous, however watertight the editorial independence of a commercial media outlet, there must always be, by definition, the possibility of a link between revenue and editorial judgement. No commercial media outlet (not even Crikey) can escape that reality. The ABC is thus the only media outlet capable of providing a fully independent news service, and that’s a far more important role than local drama or encouraging the arts or any of the many middle-class welfare roles that luvvies and ABC purists insist should be publicly-funded. The ABC hasn’t always fulfilled the requirements of its Act. For years it was a laggard in business reporting. Maybe the fair trade soyaccino types at the ABC preferred not to sully themselves by taking capitalism seriously. But as the only possible source of independent business coverage – as the only media outlet not itself a business story – it has a particular responsibility to comprehensively cover business and finance. It only really started doing so properly in the mid-1990s, and with more success when the much-maligned Jonathan Shier got funding from the Howard Government to improve the ABC’s business coverage. And if you want a demonstration of why media companies can’t always be relied to provide genuinely independent news coverage, here’s a small example. Last weekend, after many months of maneuvering, the UK media regulator OfCom ruled that BSkyB would have to sell access to sporting content and movies to other subscription television providers for dramatically lower prices. This will enable competitors like BT and Virgin to undercut BSkyB’s dominant market position in premium content, which has been a key driver of BSkyB’s success in the UK market. The Telegraph broke the story, and the Guardian followed up shortly afterward. The decision has major repercussions for BSkyB, which is under regulatory threat on a couple of fronts in the UK (yesterday it lost its battle to avoid selling much of its stake in ITV). How did the News Corporation press cover it? Well, they didn’t. Not a mention in the Times, the British journal of record, or in the News tabloids. That proud tribune of the British people, The Sun, could easily have attacked OfCom as threatening the future of British sports, since lower prices for BskyB may eventually mean lower returns for sports rights holders. But nary a word from the News Ltd stable about how sports fans might be able to get cheaper access to their favourite sports from other providers than BSkyB, even though OfCom’s decision was reported as far afield as Bloomberg and Hollywood Reporter in the US. It’s a minor demonstration of a very important point: independent news can only really be provided by non-commercial media, which is why the ABC announcement is good news. |
|
|
|
21 Comments
I’d hardly call the ABC N&CA editorial stance “independent”.
Can we expect some balance opinion and comment in the 24/7 news cycle?
The simple fact that it upsets uncle ruprect is good enough for me.
ABC news independent? Surely you jest!
Perhaps if you could distinguish ABC news from its commercial rivals in any substantial way you may have a point.
As it is the question should be - independent of what? Since it gets most of its news second hand from News Ltd, wire sources and press releases, the notion of independence is rather nebulous in this case.
Sky has “built up a fair dinkum 24 hour news service over the years”.
Really? Try watching it. A handful of tabloid headlines and semi-literate crawling captions (rarely corrected). True, some captions are pissingly funny.
There’s a sense of rushing through “the news” to get to what really matters: sport. The tyranny of sport isn’t limited to the silly season (though Australia has the world’s longest).
I like sport, but not at the expense of everything else. No one heeded John Clark (Farnarkling) did they? All jocks share but a dozen cliches. “I’ll give it my best shot” etc ad nauseam.
Sky says the ABC 24/7 will be a “needless duplication of services already available to Australians.”
If the ABC is content to splash along in the shallows like Sky News, then it will indeed be a waste of money. But if they can give some depth (and cut the sport to a summary) they’ll provide a service currently unavailable to Australians.
Good to have you back on board BK.
Most peculiar mama is delusionalof course.
She would perhaps prefer a fair and balanced approach as taken by fox!
what an appropriate picture of yourself deluded one!
Your a goose
@TWOBUB
Adults are talking.
Do you need a cloth?
A bib perhaps?
@most peculiar mama
He might not have expressed him/herself well, but deep within that comment [I think] there is a question as to what you find unbalanced about the ABC?
The answer to which, I’m interested in.
@Ben Ainslie
The list of left-leaning ABC N&CA show hosts and commentators is endless.
Radio. Television. On-line.
For the sake of balance, could list for me the number of ABC-employed regular commentators within N&CA empire (panel guests excluded) that would be considered ‘conservative’?
‘Independent’ does not mean ‘un-bias’, just as ‘un-bias’ does not mean ‘quality’. Opinions and commentators aside, you can expect what is reported on ABC News to be mostly true. The same cannot be said of Sky News.
I’m not saying bias doesn’t exist within the ABC, as this pdf clearly shows, but it is by no means always “left”. Even with academic guides like that to go by the question of bias within a broadcaster is monumentally hard to pin down, and almost without exception, based on purely anecdotal evidence.
You mentioned that the left leaning shows and commentators is endless. This I cannot disagree with, however I would argue that this is born from the ABC charter itself and even further back than that the ethos behind public broadcasting. The ABC and the BBC before it were created under the assumption that mass media was too crucial a structure, to the shaping of culture and public opinion to be left in the hands of a free market alone. I would note that in countries where the free market was given reign over the media, such as the United States, has led to a dismal state of media affairs. Despite all this though, we’re not talking about the ABC proper, but the News side of the game.
I myself can’t recall the last time I’ve seen left wing agenda on the ABC news. As a young freelance journalist I can say that I am indeed one of the sanctimonious people who would refuse to work anywhere other than the ABC [although I’m freelance] not because I’m a filthy lefty, even though I am, but because I’m a professional who will not abide the bias that commercial interest necessarily introduces. [as noted in the post these comments are about]
Needless duplication? TV news coverage generally is the very definition of needless duplication, especially in Australian capital cities.
@Ben Ainslie
A considered and reasonable response. Much more so than the adolescent dreck that usually gets thrown my way.
However I don’t believe anyone is under the illusion that the public broadcasters in most western countries tilts quite strongly to the left. Think CBC, BBC and NPR among many. To believe otherwise would be thoroughly naive.
The operative word here though is public. Taxpayer supported.
To draw comparisons with commercial news channels is unfair and disingenuous. They march to the beat of a very different drum.
With commercial stations I get a choice whether or not I watch/listen. Moreover, the quickest way to get the owners to change is to not watch. The message soon becomes very clear.
They are in business. They should be in business. They should be allowed to make a profit. Their accountability and quality is decided by the ratings public.
There is most definitely room for a public broadcaster and it should be allowed to prosper and compete equally with commercial networks. But not wihtout some checks and balances.
However, it must - despite the political predilections of most in the journalistic community - represent the view of the broader community, which in most democracies is arguablyevenly split.
“…I myself can’t recall the last time I’ve seen left wing agenda on the ABC news…”
As a journalist your job is to report the facts.
I’m not interested in your opinion unless you preface your report with an appropriate disclaimer telling me that it is you opinion.
I’ll decide whether I believe what I hear/see/read thanks.
We all know that certain words and turns of phrase are used to convey the reporters own feelings on a subject, this occurs on a daily basis and has become almost habitual.
In a modern newsroom in public taxpayer-funded broadcaster this is not an acceptable situation when reporting the news.
As for examples:
I vividly recall Sweet Virginia Trioli’s visage contorting like a twisted sandshoe with accompanying sign language following a segment with Barnaby Joyce. Tony Jones’ abominably partisan performances on Lateline are an embarrasment to any deent intellignet person and let’s not even start on Phillip. Altough I note Rupert is kind enough to give him a ‘creative’ outlet.
All are more than worthy of the highest criticism.
An example of the ABC not being sufficiently independent or rigorous, indeed pandering to power, was the constant mis-reporting of the West Atlas oil spill as 400 barrels a day. This was an estimate by the company, in effect rejected in sworn evidence to the Economics Estimates committee of the Senate by officials of Environment Australia, based on advice to them of Geo Science Australia: They said it could be up to 2,000 barrels a day - putting it easily in the Exxon Valdez category -
In other words the business line was unreliable and unsafe. But the ABC kept parroting the lower number well after the Senate evidence, despite numerous advices from moi. Including email referencing.
So why might that be? To maintain the appearance of Federal ALP competent management with a massive Barrow Island export deal on the cards ‘in the national interest’? To avoid further inflaming diplomatic tensions with Indonesia at a time the ABC chief publicly launched new funding approach to same ALP govt for a new international news outreach?
………………….
Even this morning the so called Bernard Tomic tennis controversy lacked common sense. What ‘professional sport’ anywhere, I would probably include the Olympics here, ever plays at 2 am in the morning??? That’s not a professional sports organisation running an event. That’s an emperor with no clothes. But the ABC parroted the tennis establishment and dopey sports reporter line the 17 year should shut the f*ck up for complaining. Even the 7.30 Report tonight. Again since when did any ‘professional’ sport play at 2 am in the morning? Pandering to power?
Actually I can think of only two sports which are hardly comparable - ocean racing (unavoidable environment), mountaineering (due to frozen ice at night being safer for crampons, avoiding avalanche)
The ABC only repeats the US/British pro ‘capitalistic, war mongering views’ line on just about everything. They still don’t grasp the legal reality, that seeking asylum in this country is not illegal(2 saturdays ago ABC radio news bulletin, and possibly since?).
Any stories about Venezuela is straight off Fox or ???The same with Cuba or Honduras and too many others to mention. Doesn’t give the real history behind Haiti nor ask the question, ‘why were the people living in such poverty’ in awful dwellings built on deforested ravines, and many others. Why did the west throw trillions getting capitalism out of trouble, but keep stuffing around re relief to save human beings? But then, like New Orleans, they’re only black so they don’t really matter do they?
I’m constantly frustrated by the laziness of them investigating situations for themselves, instead of getting it off the right wing press overseas. Drives me nuts! Could it just be that it’s cheaper?
Nobody asks Kevin Rudd to justify sending more troops to Afghanistan and the legality of being there in the first place? How many have we killed? We just follow the US general who said, ‘we don’t do body counts’; he should have answered, ‘we don’t do the Geneva Conventions either’? Julia Gillard taking the US line on Israel and sucking up, without one word of the 1400 murdered in Gaza - it just goes on and on! I don’t even entertain the idea of watching the commercial channels so-called news bulletins???
Liz45 - Get a grip!
All media panders to it’s support base silly. Yes western media takes it’s lead from Routers, Infowars does indulge presstv.ir where appropriate. No big deal, soak up enough of all if you have good sanity and yer get the big picture.
ABC going 24/7? Who cares..
I regularly read, watch or listen to both commercial and public news sources. I believe it gives me a more rounded view of things to gather news from as wide a range of sources as I have time for. Personally, I prefer to watch/listen to ABC news over commercial offerings. Not because it necessarily appeals to my political position - that has changed over the years. In any case, having lived a long and interesting life has made me an interesting person whose opinions cannot be neatly encompassed by a narrow definition such as ‘left’ or ‘right’. I prefer to get my news from the ABC largely because the qualitity is generally better. By that I mean that overall editting is evident, corrections are made when errors occur and blatant sensationalism is absent. These things matter to me. I don’t care about the political inclinations of the individuals involved if they are professional about the business of reporting the news. I don’t expect any news service to be free of bias but I do expect them to make an effort.
ABC 24/7 will just even out the bias crap from ruperts rags and radio clowns. Mama , you are a rude old liberal hack. Dont watch it , Mama and then you dont have to come on here whining, turn over to Fox News or the australian, tele or cm for your right wing fix of rubbish
MPM
“With commercial stations I get a choice of whether I watch/listen” Etc
Yes but for the unwashed “adolescent dreck”, ie 75% of the population who don’t share your great intellect, get brainwashed by commercial advertising.
What sort of community do you want?
Not one I want to share!
Liz 45
Are you ever happy about anything?
Smile, life is good.