Drama! Intrigue! Scandale! It’s all happening at the bloody ABC this week. Following the surprise sacking of managing director Michelle Guthrie by the board on Monday, things have gone just slightly bananas. Guthrie was given the boot just halfway through her five-year term, with a statement from the board saying that this decision was several months coming and that it “would not be in the best interests of the ABC” for her to keep doing the job. Immediately in the wake of this, Guthrie issued a statement saying that she was sacked without being told of any wrongdoing on her part and was considering her legal options.
Following this, Fairfax broke a story detailing an email leaked to them by ‘a source close to the board’ that showed ABC chairman Justin Milne asking Guthrie to fire presenter Emma Alberici because it would increase their standing with the Coalition government. In the email, dated May 8 of this year, Milne said that the government “hate” Alberici and that there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t be elected at the next election. Milne told Guthrie that they “need to save the ABC – not Emma.”
In February, Alberici (the chief economics correspondent for the ABC) had an analysis piece critical of the government’s proposed corporate tax cuts removed from the website after complaints from then–prime minister Malcolm Turnbull (remember that guy?). A version of the article was later reposted with amendments to “provide further information and context“.
In May, Turnbull lodged more complaints, this time about a piece Alberici did for TV about government innovation spending that was broadcast a day prior to the email Milne sent to Guthrie. Of the 11 grievances Turnbull raised about the piece, the ABC upheld one about the description of someone as an advisor to the government but otherwise concluded that the piece was “accurate, newsworthy, in the public interest and presented in context“.
Still with me? Wonderful, thank you for patience.
Speaking to ABC Radio Melbourne this morning, Alberici said that this was the first she had heard of this, adding that she was “disappointed“, as she had specifically come to the ABC to work for a news organisation not beholden to outside influence. Alberici said that, if true, she found it odd and disturbing, and that interference like this “undermines the independence of the ABC“.
Biiiiiiiiig turnout of ABC journos & broadcasters after it emerged today that board chairman Justin Milne wanted @albericie hung out to dry. pic.twitter.com/rwex8uUeY4
— Richard Aedy (@richardaedy) September 26, 2018
Her colleagues at the ABC appeared to agree, with a meeting of ‘hundreds’ of ABC union members in Sydney voting unanimously for a motion calling for Justin Milne to step aside and for an investigation to be launched. According to the ABC, the same motion was passed in Melbourne, with the Brisbane office calling for Milne to verify if the reports are true and, if so, to resign immediately.
Passed unanimously by #ABC union members in Brisbane about Justin Milne:
“This meeting calls on the chairman to publicly acknowledge if the political interference in the reported email is true and, if so, immediately resign from his position”. pic.twitter.com/P8Pi07LDZg— Matt Wordsworth (@MattWordsworth) September 26, 2018
So far, Milne hasn’t specifically addressed the criticisms being levelled at him or the report from Fairfax, instead issuing this terse, vague statement at around midday today:
The job of the ABC Board is to independently govern the Corporation, protect its best interests, ensure that it is well funded, well managed and that our content is of the highest standards. That is precisely what the Board has done and will continue to do. I do not propose to provide a running commentary on day to day issues which arise in pursuit of our duties.
This afternoon, shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland said that Labor will seek to launch a Senate inquiry into the government’s “interference” with the ABC. She was joined by opposition leader Bill Shorten, who said that Milne’s position has become “untenable“. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young released a statement saying that Milne “must go“.
Another report from Fairfax this afternoon stated that communications minister Mitch Fifield has called for an ‘urgent inquiry’ into the matter, asking the secretary of the Communications Department to “establish the facts in relations to today’s media reports surrounding the ABC“. It’s worth noting that, as Fairfax reported at the time, Fifield also complained to the ABC about Alberici’s piece on innovation spending.
The final update for today (I hope, I pray) is that, according to the ABC, Milne texted ABC Radio host Rafael Epstein to say that he has every intention of staying in the role at this point in time.
From where I’m sitting, that’s you about fully caught up. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.
Update: Milne is outta there, babey.
Justin Milne has resigned as Chairman of the ABC.
— Andy Park (@andy_park) September 27, 2018
