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Who Needs the ABC? why taking it for granted is no longer an option
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is under an existential threat, especially from the conservative federal government, even though it is the best-trusted news organisation in Australia, and plays a vital role in Australian life.
For years, the ABC’s funding has been slashed, forcing it to let go journalists with decades of experience in asking hard questions about anyone and everyone, including government. It has been besieged by written complaints from ministers, hectoring by prime ministers, and intense pressure on its most senior executives. Its board has been stacked with a succession of political appointees. It has been relentlessly, often baselessly, attacked by the Murdoch media.
Apart from the external attacks, the ABC has also inflicted damage on itself. It has not only shed staff but has cut important programs; contentious enterprises have been dropped and replaced by benign, inoffensive ones. It is not surprising that staff morale at the ABC has sunk in recent years.
This book details how the travails of the ABC in this period fit into a global debate about the role of public broadcasting in the modern era. Who Needs the ABC? also takes seriously the arguments made for the ABC’s break-up and privatisation, and offers a rejoinder to those calls. It doesn't shy away from the failings that have led to the ABC’s current parlous position, but it identifies the vital role that it plays in Australian cultural and democratic life, and argues for a continuation of that role — and shows how it can be done.
For years, the ABC’s funding has been slashed, forcing it to let go journalists with decades of experience in asking hard questions about anyone and everyone, including government. It has been besieged by written complaints from ministers, hectoring by prime ministers, and intense pressure on its most senior executives. Its board has been stacked with a succession of political appointees. It has been relentlessly, often baselessly, attacked by the Murdoch media.
Apart from the external attacks, the ABC has also inflicted damage on itself. It has not only shed staff but has cut important programs; contentious enterprises have been dropped and replaced by benign, inoffensive ones. It is not surprising that staff morale at the ABC has sunk in recent years.
This book details how the travails of the ABC in this period fit into a global debate about the role of public broadcasting in the modern era. Who Needs the ABC? also takes seriously the arguments made for the ABC’s break-up and privatisation, and offers a rejoinder to those calls. It doesn't shy away from the failings that have led to the ABC’s current parlous position, but it identifies the vital role that it plays in Australian cultural and democratic life, and argues for a continuation of that role — and shows how it can be done.
160 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 18, 2022
A quick & solid, if not dry in places, look at the ABC’s uniqueness and value - especially at a time where it’s been criticised so much for being wildly left-leaning. Where would we be without it? Personally I’d be out of a job! I probably wouldn’t have read this if I didn’t work there… it was nice to be reminded of how great the place I work is - and why it needs to be supported to continue to be great.
July 9, 2023
This book defends Australia's national broadcaster against politically conservative and libertarian critics. Right-wing politicians and pundits generally accuse the ABC of having a left-wing bias or unfairly impacting free-market media entities. The ABC's budget is routinely reduced when conservatives are in power and some individuals even call for its privatisation. Matthew Ricketson reminds these detractors that around 80% of Australians support the ABC. While ABC journalists may lean left, unlike private media organisations, ABC staff are legally obligated to maintain impartiality.
The ABC provides services for the Australian public in areas where market failures occur--i.e., supporting the arts; providing children's educational programs; and offering rural radio coverage (this was critical during the Black Summer bushfires). Further, the ABC is renowned for its exceptional journalism, and is the most scrutinised media organisation in the country. Politically, a well-funded independent media institution ensures a balanced voice for a better-informed citizenry. This contrasts with inherently biased entities like the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sky News.
This book is concise, which makes for easy reading (I read it in a few hours). Ricketson provides ample historical context, alongside qualitative and quantitative evidence to support his arguments. As a journalist and academic with experience at private media entities, Ricketson's postulations gain additional credence. The ABC has existed for 91 years and has become a cultural institution of Australia. It must be protected from radical idealogues that aim to dismantle it. After all, from the perspective of the far right, any oppositional views may appear left-leaning.
The ABC provides services for the Australian public in areas where market failures occur--i.e., supporting the arts; providing children's educational programs; and offering rural radio coverage (this was critical during the Black Summer bushfires). Further, the ABC is renowned for its exceptional journalism, and is the most scrutinised media organisation in the country. Politically, a well-funded independent media institution ensures a balanced voice for a better-informed citizenry. This contrasts with inherently biased entities like the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sky News.
This book is concise, which makes for easy reading (I read it in a few hours). Ricketson provides ample historical context, alongside qualitative and quantitative evidence to support his arguments. As a journalist and academic with experience at private media entities, Ricketson's postulations gain additional credence. The ABC has existed for 91 years and has become a cultural institution of Australia. It must be protected from radical idealogues that aim to dismantle it. After all, from the perspective of the far right, any oppositional views may appear left-leaning.
April 13, 2022
This book is extremely timely as I assume that at some time in the Australian Election Campaign, the necessity for the ABC will come up for discussion, particularly by people who regard it as a hotbed of radical left wing opinion and who resent having their taxes contribute to such odious commentary. Their solution is to force it accept advertising or break it up and sell it to commercial interests, which seems to be the solution that has been put forward by the Murdoch Family since 1933. I assume that those of that opinion will be right wing supporters of the Liberal and National Parties and since they are less likely to read, listen or watch the ABC, how do they know what the content is? It may also be a revelation to them to realise that the ABC is not what they think it is and that an overwhelming percentage of Australians regard it as their most reliable unbiased source of news and information. My family has been brought up on the ABC and I regard it as my primary source of news and entertainment and our TV and radio is virtually never tuned to the commercials, so you could say that I am biased in the other direction. The authors are well-qualified academics who have crafted a book with a catchy title, it makes the case in a very detailed and entertaining manner. Certainly worth a read.
February 25, 2023
The ABC is running out of friends. That’s one story that emerges from this book. For the political right in Australia, the public broadcaster is a useful punching bag in the never-ending culture wars. For the commercial media, it is a pesky, publicly-resourced rival that diverts eyeballs from the advertising that supports its own content.
But the ABC is also rapidly losing friends on the political left, where exasperation is growing with its constant pre-emotive buckling to the paranoid and punitive right and its disproportionate platforming of reactionary loudmouths who already have a bully pulpit at News Corp or Nine.
This book by academic and journalist Matthew Ricketson and academic and writer Patrick Mullins is an attempt to write a clear-eyed, measured case for a public broadcaster at a time of media disruption.
I’d agree with both authors that the case for the ABC has if anything become stronger as media concentration has grown. And I’d also agree that the common response to that point about increasing diversity online overlooks that most of the blogs and independent commentary is just that - opinion and commentary, not well-resourced journalism.
The increased partisanship of traditional media, under the pressure of what the internet has done to commercial media business models, actually strengthens the argument for public record, straight news.
Where the ABC has gone wrong is in accepting the premise of much of the unfair and unjustified criticism it gets from mainly right-wing politicians and columnists about it being a ‘nest of lefties’. The upshot of this tedious debate is that the public broadcaster begins to second guess its own editorial judgement and over-compensates with false balance.
Ricketson and Mullins towards the end of the book nail the real fundamental issue, which is governance and funding. A formal merit-based and arms-length process for appointments to the ABC board, instituted under the Rudd and Gillard governments, was trashed subsequently under Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison for the Coalition.
Outright partisans, including people who don’t even want the ABC to exist, have been appointed in recent years and that has led to a bunker mentality in management, including in the news division. The upshot is we continually see on news programs a tacit acceptance of Coalition talking points and an over-compensation in appeasing the right to the point that professional editorial judgement is not being exercised.
In short, it has become patently obvious that the broadcaster has been got to and that there are now people in senior positions, who for either ideological reasons or to protect their own sinecures, will pre-emptively buckle.
That’s why I’m less hopeful that Ricketson and Mullins that the ABC as it now is will survive much longer.
But the ABC is also rapidly losing friends on the political left, where exasperation is growing with its constant pre-emotive buckling to the paranoid and punitive right and its disproportionate platforming of reactionary loudmouths who already have a bully pulpit at News Corp or Nine.
This book by academic and journalist Matthew Ricketson and academic and writer Patrick Mullins is an attempt to write a clear-eyed, measured case for a public broadcaster at a time of media disruption.
I’d agree with both authors that the case for the ABC has if anything become stronger as media concentration has grown. And I’d also agree that the common response to that point about increasing diversity online overlooks that most of the blogs and independent commentary is just that - opinion and commentary, not well-resourced journalism.
The increased partisanship of traditional media, under the pressure of what the internet has done to commercial media business models, actually strengthens the argument for public record, straight news.
Where the ABC has gone wrong is in accepting the premise of much of the unfair and unjustified criticism it gets from mainly right-wing politicians and columnists about it being a ‘nest of lefties’. The upshot of this tedious debate is that the public broadcaster begins to second guess its own editorial judgement and over-compensates with false balance.
Ricketson and Mullins towards the end of the book nail the real fundamental issue, which is governance and funding. A formal merit-based and arms-length process for appointments to the ABC board, instituted under the Rudd and Gillard governments, was trashed subsequently under Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison for the Coalition.
Outright partisans, including people who don’t even want the ABC to exist, have been appointed in recent years and that has led to a bunker mentality in management, including in the news division. The upshot is we continually see on news programs a tacit acceptance of Coalition talking points and an over-compensation in appeasing the right to the point that professional editorial judgement is not being exercised.
In short, it has become patently obvious that the broadcaster has been got to and that there are now people in senior positions, who for either ideological reasons or to protect their own sinecures, will pre-emptively buckle.
That’s why I’m less hopeful that Ricketson and Mullins that the ABC as it now is will survive much longer.
June 24, 2022
A very important book. Much needed. Public broadcasting is important and should be properly funded. It helps support democracy because it's an unbiased source of information which the public can rely on. As opposed to commercial media which can be extremely biased in some cases. This is more important than ever in this age of fake news.
Covers the relationships between the ABC and all the Australian governments over the last 40 years. To cut a long story short, coalition governments cut ABC funding and Labor governments increase it. Coalition governments also are very critical of the ABC and often try to undermine it.
This book is a very useful reference for those of us who support the ABC because it goes through all the arguments for and provides counter-arguments for all the arguments against.
Covers the relationships between the ABC and all the Australian governments over the last 40 years. To cut a long story short, coalition governments cut ABC funding and Labor governments increase it. Coalition governments also are very critical of the ABC and often try to undermine it.
This book is a very useful reference for those of us who support the ABC because it goes through all the arguments for and provides counter-arguments for all the arguments against.
September 17, 2022
An excellent defence of the ABC and its role in Australia’s consciousness and journalistic culture. It’s examination of budget cuts and partisan board processes is scathing and clearly demonstrates the dangers to the ABC.
October 5, 2022
A compelling case - and unfortunately, one that needs to be amplified today. As the ABC's (news) audience ages, I can only hope that a rejuvenated and properly funded ABC can enter the lives of generations to come.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews