There has always been discussion, especially within the Liberal government, regarding the operations and perceived ‘left-wing bias’ throughout the Australian Broadcasting Corporation but lately, as a result of the publication of the Snowden leaks, there has been renewed calls for change within the organisation.
In a speech to the Senate this week Liberal Party Senator Cory Bernardi, besides outlining his views on climate change, same-sex marriage, abortion, Sharia law, euthanasia et cetera, ended with comments on the “more subtle efforts [which] continue to enforce groupthink on society today” including those he believes to be perpetrated by “our ABC”. He asked the question: “So it is reasonable to ask: why are taxpayers footing a $1 billion bill for the ABC when it consistently fails to present a balanced view?”.
Bernardi later elaborated on his criticism of the ABC in a radio interview, where he called for their online arm to have funding cut and be made to fund itself from advertising and paid subscriptions revenue.
He said: “I think it’s crowding out the commercial operators in that space. It’s making it increasingly difficult for them to compete… I don’t want to see the demise of Fairfax. I don’t want to see the demise of News Corp. I don’t want to see a state run media effectively dominating this landscape.”
Fairfax and Newscorp who, between them, own a large majority stake in Australian newspapers, have never before been in ‘competition’ for readers with the ABC, who have predominantly had only television and radio properties, but are now reporting within the same online space.
Fairfax writer Mike Carlton said in an interview that the so-called ‘assault’ on the ABC is “all driven by the fact that Rupert Murdoch loathes public broadcasting… it’s partly ideological and partly commercial… What these people want now is for the ABC to be neutered, they want to hack into the ABC’s funding, they want to end a lot of the stuff it’s doing on the internet.”
In response to the renewed debate, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said that whilst he isn’t planning any changes to ABC funding he does believe the they showed “poor judgement” in publishing the reports showing Australia had tapped the phones of Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and those surrounding him. He asked “Why should the ABC be acting as an advertising agent for a left-wing British newspaper?”
Political Journalist and commentator Mungo MacCallum wrote in a recent article that “When the renegade Edward Snowden passed his pilfered National Security Agency files on to the Guardian, the Guardian, after sorting and analysing them for a period of months, offered the revelations about Australia to Aunty, and Aunty duly put this red-hot, world scoop to air – as any news outlet worthy of the name would have.”
Time reported that The Guardian only published 1% of the Snowden documents and have since been unduly pursued.
Senator Bernardi’s criticisms have reportedly been backed by others within the Liberal government, including Liberal Nationals Senator Ian MacDonald and Speaker Bronwyn Bishop, with sources suggesting there is strong support within the Coalition for the current criticism of the ABC and that there was a call for former Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella to replace the current managing director of the ABC, Mark Scott.
Columnist Janet Albrechtsen, has publicly called for Mark Scott’s resignation, for his decision to allow the story to be published and for being “willing to risk Australia’s national interest for no discernible public interest“. Albrechtsen went on to say:
“When the managing director of the ABC chose to publish information criminally obtained by Edward Snowden about Australia’s signals intelligence operations in Indonesia, he also chose to undermine Australia’s relationship with our most important neighbour. He chose to fuel tensions and nationalist sentiments in a fledgling democracy. He also chose to undermine an immigration policy aimed at preventing deaths at sea.”
Despite this the government, and Tony Abbott specifically, has said that surveillance operations are necessary and that “Australia should not be expected to apologise for the steps we take to protect our country now or in the past”. Although he “sincerely regrets any embarrassment that recent media reports have caused him [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono]”.
Meanwhile, ABC boss Mark Scott has defended the decision to publish the story, saying that many critics of the ABC are motivated by money and are threatened by today’s tough media landscape.
“In a sense there is some ideology behind some of the critics… I also think that there are some who think they would make more money if in fact the ABC wasn’t the ABC of today… They are talking in terms of their shareholders… I am interested in our shareholders. They are the Australian people.”
This week Crikey reported on “the real News Corp Agenda” and said that any inquiry into the alleged bias and running of the ABC would “be skewed to deliver Murdoch the two big prizes he was always going to extract in return for his support for the Coalition over the past three years: a re-opening of the tender process for the Australia Television service so Sky News gets the contract; and a major winding-back of the ABC’s online presence, particularly in any content areas that compete with existing News Corp output.”
While the debate on whether ABC funding should be cut continues, as Scott said, a lot of the current discussion boils down to the “big international debate on intelligence activities in this digital age; what information can be procured and what information can be shared.” What that will mean for the future of the ABC and Australian media landscape remains to be seen but according to Carlton, “The fight for the ABC is on.”
Information on ABC’s Editorial Policies and how the ABC is run and their governing guidelines can be found on their website.
Title image via Giulio Saggin: ABC News
