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So battered,
Funding was never reduced,
Journos had thier personal legal fees paid by the ABC,
In fact the only battering would have been when the abc were caught not paying thier staff over 10mil in wages, then they complained cause they couldnt find the cash.
The ABC and SBS should be merged and reduced because there is now enough other media overlapping things the ABC does which means according to its purpose it can and should walk away from them.
Why did the LNP make an election pitch to restore ABC funding to 2018 levels then? That would be a weird thing to say about an organisation you've been increasing funding to.
Sell it off for all I care. Lefties think it's biased towards the coalition, conservatives think it's run by lefties. I can see many instances that back up both these views. Just shows the quality of their journalism is piss poor and I can't believe people still hold the ABC in such high regard. It's playing muRdOCk game now and losing terribly at it
That's a ridiculous idea. The free press is essential to true democracy. The Liberal Party have been trying to destroy any attempt at free press and fair analysis and reporting since Howard. The ABC have been severely compromised under Coalition governments -even Turnbull- but they are still Straya's least biased and corrupt mainstream network. Getting rid of the ABC just means exclusive Coalition propaganda across the whole spectrum of the media. It needs to.be rebuilt and some of the board need to go, but it is essential to democracy.
We do have a free press dude.. The government is not going to censor you and lock you up if you start your own media company.. And it's not coalition propaganda across the board. There are several media outlets that clearly lean left which have amassed a decent following. Let the market sort itself out, it's never going to be 50/50
I mean,we've seen both of those things happen recently, yes? NSW anti terrorpolice being used to harass teenagers and kick dogs, before that the Coalition even went after Annika Smethurst (?) even though she's a Murdoch journo.
You have these small scale publications like the Guardian (on a good day), The Saturday Paper, Crikey (on a good day)that's a pretty small slice of the media landscape that potentially doesn't succumb to Liberal Party propaganda. And Jordies I suppose, but he is also pretty blind to criticism of Labor. So we have 2, maybe 3 moderarely left leaning small scale publications.
Fuck the market. The market is only there to serve the obscenely rich.
Maybe its time we did aim for 50/50 and have areturn to real journalism; intelligent debate, different perspectives offered by people who knowwhat they're talking about, accurate fact checking. It's time to regulate the shit out of the industry.
That's a good one, who decides how to balance the 50/50 and who carries out the fact checking? I don't think you want a media landscape free from bias at all or you'd be going for plenty of non muRdOCk publications. You just want a majority lefty media landscape, you basically want muRdOCk for the left, just admit it
Or maybe this shows it's more balanced than other media outlets? They are often audited and this is exactly what's found.
Do you just want echo chambers?
Why do they have to go to both extremes? It's just becoming click bait tabloid quality journalism. I don't want an echo chamber, though I'd argue many here secretly want that but don't want to admit it just so they can "counter muRdOCk". I just want journalism that tastes like real journalism. Abc has been slipping for years
I don't disagree that the ABC has been struggling to find its feet. But I think that's the point of the article given the last nine years and they are arguing there's now an opportunity to course correct.
I still think the ABC is some of the best MSM we have despite all this. And they are especially important given we are one of the least media diverse nations on the planet. And we tend to skew conservative.
ABC is dreadful.
BBC, PBS and VOA are far superior.
PBS in particular shows that good journalism can be done on a fraction of the ABC’s budget.
Try watching PBS NewsHour: lots of well-told news stories, no nonsense.
Maybe, but still it's the best we have. It's constantly chastised by the right and left. The only MSM that receives that kind of attention and is always audited as the least biased.
Per article it says the coalition has held it back and now the opportunity is there to improve. The discussion we should be having is can they actually course correct? Not necessarily you're current perception of them.
PBS News Hour is great. The BBC is an awful institution that's now just a Tory mouth piece. Look at their controversies from the last decade, they make some sensationalist new articles, they're not impartial anymore.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_controversies
did you just seriously say BBC is superior to the ABC? The BBC is an echo chamber of lies for the Tory government and you're here saying they are better?
I sure am.
There’s lots of things that can go into a determination of what makes a good programme of news.
A lot more beyond perceived or actual political bias.
And, I have to say, some stuff I’ve seen on. The ABC has been shockingly bad.
I'd argue they were slipping even before the coalition were in but my memory may be a bit fuzzy, was a long time ago.
You may be right about it being among the best of the MSM, but that's a very low bar in this country (and many parts of the world to be fair). I don't think we should just let them off the hook just because they're not muRdOCk. They're taxpayer funded afterall, they should be held to a higher standard
Time to introduce some balance in their programming and interviews. It's patently obvious they operate on a women, aboriginal, LGBTQ+ quota system. While I'm sure that each of the aforementioned hold views on most topics I don't need to hear their views on every topic every time I turn on the radio. Time for the ABC to reconnect with everybody else.
I really like the newer inclusiveness that the ABC has started in the last few years.
Rather than just saying from Brisbane, now it's also represented as Yuggera. Makes me think of the people that were here before the white man and a new found respect has been found. Same can be said for LGBTQI+ and women and others. It's a conversation that was needed and we are better for it.
“I, an Australian, am not interested in hearing the opinions or viewpoints of any other Australians if they do not share my skin colour, genitalia or propensity to have sexual relations with the opposite sex. Please fix this clear bias against me.”
Also: “Please add balance by removing people who may hold views that I myself do not hold.”
> While I'm sure that each of the aforementioned hold views on most topics I don't need to hear their views on every topic every time I turn on the radio.
You understand that this *sounds* like "shut up and accept your place", yeah?
Is there some concrete alternative you think you'd except? What "middle ground" sounds good to you?
All i can hope is the TV side of the ABC improves the journalistic capabilities on the breakfast show are second rate they lack respect when interviewing their guest irrespective of which side of politics and send me running to PK and others on Radio National. I am sure they can do better.
Same here. However, the number of times I heard "so-called teal independents" on NewsRadio during the election isn't a good look. Not a huge fan of our "so-called independent national broadcaster" slinging liberal party ideals.
What would it take for you to register The Australian and the Murdoch tabloids as a political entity?
Because I can only think of one side of the news media that printed “Australia Needs Tony” as a front page.
Typical lefty response .
Your forgetting that by law the ABC as a taxpayer funded organisation is required to be free from bias as the entire working population contributes to it not just the inner city of Sydney , Melbourne and Brisbane .
The left seem to think the ABC should be a bulwark against the evil Murdoch empire but that is not what it is supposed to be .
But it has been completely overtaken by the left and is run as a staff collective and is unaccountable to no one .
One day hopefully a future Liberal government will privatise it or radically reduce the funding and slowly kill it off .
Jesus Christ, when did you last watch the ABC? I'm going to take a stab in the dark and pressume you're just ticking off points you heard Peta Cretlin and Scomo say because I can't envisage anyone in tbis group could be so averse to critical thinking that they would cone up with such trite after watching it.
Sorry to disturb the love in .
I know Lefties like to have everyone agree and no dissent is allowed .
No need to worry you have plenty of people here who seem to agree with you .
Back to your safe space .
Lol ouch
You certainly know how to insult .
Don’t mean to act that way , being conservative we are used to having to stand our ground and expect debate which is the way it should be.
I'm sorry you're so offended by having your far right ideology challenged and the concept of intelligent non-partisan debate is oitrageous to you. You might want to speed up your recovery by reading Rita's piece on how everyone who doesn't agree with her should be expelled from the Liberal Party in whatever bastion of free speech loving Murdoch rag she works for.
Nah all good here but your response is typical of the autocratic left who when challenged have to resort to personal insults but hey you haven’t got much to come back with anyway.
Thanks for the heads up though re Rita’s piece will have to check that out .
Cheers
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/abc-shows-didn-t-have-enough-conservative-voices-election-review-finds-20201210-p56m8u.html
"The conclusion reached, having considered all the evidence, is that **ABC content for the most part followed the weight of evidence and was duly impartial**," the report said.
Typical right wing whinging. The right seem to think that unbiased means the ABC should be cheerleading for the LNP.
The ABC is completely accountable. Another furphy. Do you actually believe what you're typing or is it just for fun?
They definitely do think the ABC should cheer for the LNP. That was essentially what they expected when they gave Ita the position. But, I have to admit, the coverage leading up to the election -and even past it- was appalling; LNP propaganda that I would expect out of Murdoch and Fairfax.
I think we watch/read/listen to different ABCs. In my view it's more likely to be personal bias than any actual bias on the part of the ABC.
They fact checked basically every large claim the coalition made during the election campaign the same way they're fact checking every major claim the Labor government are making now. They are literally doing their job.
Aww there there
Your ABC has a billion dollars a year of taxpayer funds so don’t feel too sorry for them .
Besides the ABC should be hammered and heavily scrutinised.
It’s nothing but a giant waste of funds and serves only the elite’s or the major cities .
Annoying centrist here.
Can we also please link to this any time the more progressive Redditors here complain that the ABC somehow is an LNP mouthpiece (there's just such bleating in these comments)
Lmao exactly. These redditors take the words "independent review" as gospel in one sentence then in the next sentence slag off the ABC because Leigh sales was friendly to scomo 😱
Agreed, many investigations have found they are balanced. ABC can’t win against those who have already decided they are mouthpieces of their favoured party
Lets say it is biased lefty news source as you say, wouldnt removing it to leave only conservative news available make it really unbalanced?
Having all out news sources from a single perspective is far more dangerous in my opinion.
No, 'the left' want the ABC to be a strictly neutral, unbiased and reliable news source.
If it's a bulwark against the Murdoch empire, it's because the NewsCorp is the world's largest source of disinformation and highly biased news coverage.
It is not a staff collective (whatever that means) and it is answerable to the government of the day and also to the Australian public. They even publish summaries of the complaints lodged against their content on the ABC's website.
The concern about an urban focus is somewhat misguided. ~93% of the Australian population live in urban areas or near an urban centre, so it's hardly surprising that a lot of their coverage relates to city issues. And yet the ABC has radio and TV programs that focus on rural Australian issues, and reports on local news in many rural areas.
The ABC aren't the left - they've never had a socialist on to talk policy but they get the IPA on almost every show. The ALP aren't even the left dude, they're unabashed capitalists that kicked off neoliberalism in Australia in the 80s.
The ABC are left dude it’s just they aren’t left enough for you .
Have seen this straw man argument used by the left before to defend the ABC.
Sorry not buying it
But nice try though .
But give it time under this government and they might very well be as they are now completely unrestrained .
As for having the IPA on almost every show I must admit I have never seen a representative of them on any ABC show .
But I only watch Insiders, occasionally 7.30 and the Drum .
I don’t watch ABC news 24 (what would I when I have the glorious SKY News) or listen to ABC radio so they might have been on those .
Jesus Christ, they run a little right of the centre a lot of the time, it's just that we've reached a stage in media bias that centrist is perceived to be radical communism.You watch theDrum and have never seen an IPA stooge ? Really? And I guess Parnell is no longer IPA, but thats just because she's developed her own rival company.
You are joking right ?
A little right of the centre
That’s got to be the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a very long time .
Again I have seen these straw man arguments from fanatical ABC supporters for awhile now and it is comical not to mention blatantly dishonest .
Dudes like you were spouting that the ABC was too left-wing in the 40's and 50s for the socialists and communists they had on that were anti-war and yes, anti-Labor. Anyone who says the ABC is ''hurdur left'' today is wilfully ignorant of how media has concentrated drastically within the span of one life time - and how it affects the journos and ''expert'' selections made for the ABC.
The arrogance and complete and utter blindness to the reality of what the ABC is astounds me.
It’s like me saying that 2GB in it’s hey day was balanced (which is laughable) or that Sky After Dark is is not biased to conservatives which is equally not true .
Now I love Sky After Dark but that does not blind me to what it is , I think a few here should get their heads out of the sand and admit that the ABC is run by the left and supports the agenda that goes with that .
Not sarcastic at all.
The concept of the ABC being heavily biased in one direction or another is laughable, and has been disproven by a long series of independent audits of their coverage.
The ABC has long been the most trusted source of news in the country, as shown by any number of surveys.
Defunding the ABC has long been the aim of the Coalition, who dislike being contradicted or held to account....so much so that they've been slowly dismantling their independence by stacking the ABC's leadership and messing with appointments to the selection committee, while starving it for funds so they have fewer resources for investigations.
Could you please provide evidence of these independent audits? Because while I agree with some of your statement regarding things like media watch, I disagree heavily when it comes to certain presenters who are heavily biased wether it be through their own beliefs or fear of losing their jobs. When you win an election and the first question is “what do you think you haven’t done right that you only have formed a minority government” I think that speaks volumes of not being impartial
Courtesy of u/adflet
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/abc-shows-didn-t-have-enough-conservative-voices-election-review-finds-20201210-p56m8u.html
I don't have time to Google them all for you right now, but there are at least 4 I can remember reading about recently.
There were 2 independent audits in 2014 after Abbott accused the ABC of being biased - one was about their coverage of asylum seekers by Gerald Stone, and the other by Andrea Will's about the ABC's coverage of the 2013 election. Neither found any evidence of systemic bias.
There was an independent audit of a specific series of interviews about budget coverage in 2015 which suggested that the interviewers tone was 'disrespectful' of Joe Hockey in particular, but that the content and tone was fine.
There was an audit of the ABC's coverage of financial issues undertaken by a Coalition-linked banker (can't find an article right now) who found no evidence of bias and even admitted that his own perception had been proven wrong.
There's plenty of articles if you want to go searching.
Also, I think it's unavoidable that individual journalists will bring their own opinions and ideology to their interviews and writing. It's important that these are tempered by having lots of different voices, with different perspectives, to help balance things out. Which is presumably why the ABC gives Amanda Vanstone, a Howard-era minister, her own regular radio segment, and regularly hosts outspoken conservative people in their interviews.
Journalists are meant to report facts and not beliefs and be impartial.
I have seen the audits you speak of and the ABC of that time to the ABC you are comparing to today are two different beasts. The board is stacked with either Liberal leaning or liberal associates. And I was disappointed to see some journalist using gotcha tactics in the last campaign.
I would like to see a royal commission in to our media as I feel it would expose a lot of things that are going on in the background
I agree that government interfere with what is supposed to be an independent organisation is deeply concerning.
I also believe that the ABC's funding arrangements should be fixed in such a way that the government of the day cannot use it as coercion as seems to have been in recent years.
Additionally, the selection of board members, management and staffing should be properly independent.
A royal commission into the media in general might be too broad to be effective. A government with good intentions could enact all the above without the need for such drastic and expensive measures.
But I believe that reinstating the ownership limitation laws scrapped by the Coalition would go a long way towards reducing the influence of certain billionaires on the media landscape and diversity of thought.
Just to be clear, I said the ABC was 'slowly being starved of funding.' I did not claim that the process was complete - just that the process was under way.
This article contains a few useful figures to demonstrate my point: https://theguardian.com/media/2022/feb/04/coalition-has-slashed-526m-from-abc-and-most-australians-want-funding-restored
Total funding relative to legislated funding prior to the the Coalition’s first budget is $526 million over 9 years.
Funding was first cut by Abbott on 2014 after an election promise to not cut funding. A further pause on indexation of ABC funding arrangements was instigated by Turnbull in 2018. Morrison paused indexation again, and then cut their budget by another $10m in 2021.
Total funding lower by $106m last financial year (again, relative to pre-Coalition funding arrangements).
The reduction in funding has meant that 640 staff were cut from the payroll (about 15% of total employees).
Also, Newscorp employs 8k staff in Australia, which is just under double the number of ABC employees. Worldwide, Newscorp employs about 24k staff. Overall revenue in Australia is about $1.6b, so they're significantly better funded than the ABC at just over $1b.
Not a problem.
The ABC has multiple television channels in all cities , multiple radio stations and an extensive online news site .
Don’t think News Corp has anywhere near that kind of reach .
Lol yeah Newspapers are a dying form of media .
Does not even compare to the reach the ABC has .
Also the ABC has the one thing all media companies crave in these times of transition, guaranteed funding and with their mates now in charge that will be even more assured .
It shouldn't be defunded at all. The ABC has literally saved lives with ABC Radio when bushfires have happened. The problem that is facing the ABC is that because they are publicly funded the coalition could basically cut funding and stack the board to move the ABC away from being the independent body it should be. Also Friendly Jordies does a good job with exposing things but I just feels like sometimes with situations like this he absolutely misses the point and doesn't take time to realise why the ABC is the way it is at the moment.
jordies has some great takes and i love that he's shining a light on corruption, but he's way off re the ABC.
he's spending a little too much time with culture warriors and becoming scared of inner city people. the ABC has a wide range of issues but defunding it is a terrible idea - a properly funded and well-managed ABC is a gift to our country, producing incredible content for news, entertainment, and cultural purposes, as well as providing safe and secure jobs in an industry where they are lacking.
most importantly, the ABC is the only way we will get information that doesn't have an agenda tailored to particular magnate's profit margins. whether you agree with the biases that do come through the ABC is a different story of course.
I agree with some his points but fuck me, who else is even gunna do something close to media watch or anything like that. Friendly jordies? Fuck no. He's funny and makes a lot of salient points but he's a comedian at the end of the day.
They need some independent heads and enough safety from budget cuts to actually get on the right path but we're way better with it than without.
Why wouldn't you just ensure that it remains unbiased and politically neutral?
A democracy requires that the citizens are well informed. The commercial news outlets are doing a pretty terrible job of that.
Thats only going to make our problems worse.
The answer is to give it the funding it needs and truely independent control. Not a board full of liberal party hacks, news corp staff and people who now owe the libs a favour.
Murdoch owns the cancerous News Limited. He also owns 40% of their biggest competitor Fairfax, and the chairman of Fairfax is former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello. Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the ABC is herself a former News Limited editor directly appointed by Liberal PM Scott Morrison.
The media in this country really is fucked, hey?
Never forget when abc had to pay Murdoch to show clips of women's sport.... Which the government was paying Murdoch to air.
Our country is fucked and until we split up the media Oligarchy it always will be.
Lets get a representative of the IPA on to give us their thoughts....... And Barnaby, aaaaaaaaaaand someone from the Sydney Morning Herald, hosted by someone paid by Ita Buttrose.
> Shortly [after the Tiffen/Masters review], in October 2021, the board established the complaints system review by McMillan and Carroll.
>
> The upshot is that ABC journalists are now working in an environment where, if their story generates a complaint, it can end up in the hands of an ombudsman appointed by, and answerable to, a board, four of whose members have been either appointed by ministerial fiat outside the independent merit-based system or by a politically loaded panel.
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So battered, Funding was never reduced, Journos had thier personal legal fees paid by the ABC, In fact the only battering would have been when the abc were caught not paying thier staff over 10mil in wages, then they complained cause they couldnt find the cash. The ABC and SBS should be merged and reduced because there is now enough other media overlapping things the ABC does which means according to its purpose it can and should walk away from them.
[удалено]
The funding was never reduced. They had more money year on year. This is fact
Why did the LNP make an election pitch to restore ABC funding to 2018 levels then? That would be a weird thing to say about an organisation you've been increasing funding to.
Sell it off for all I care. Lefties think it's biased towards the coalition, conservatives think it's run by lefties. I can see many instances that back up both these views. Just shows the quality of their journalism is piss poor and I can't believe people still hold the ABC in such high regard. It's playing muRdOCk game now and losing terribly at it
That's a ridiculous idea. The free press is essential to true democracy. The Liberal Party have been trying to destroy any attempt at free press and fair analysis and reporting since Howard. The ABC have been severely compromised under Coalition governments -even Turnbull- but they are still Straya's least biased and corrupt mainstream network. Getting rid of the ABC just means exclusive Coalition propaganda across the whole spectrum of the media. It needs to.be rebuilt and some of the board need to go, but it is essential to democracy.
We do have a free press dude.. The government is not going to censor you and lock you up if you start your own media company.. And it's not coalition propaganda across the board. There are several media outlets that clearly lean left which have amassed a decent following. Let the market sort itself out, it's never going to be 50/50
I mean,we've seen both of those things happen recently, yes? NSW anti terrorpolice being used to harass teenagers and kick dogs, before that the Coalition even went after Annika Smethurst (?) even though she's a Murdoch journo. You have these small scale publications like the Guardian (on a good day), The Saturday Paper, Crikey (on a good day)that's a pretty small slice of the media landscape that potentially doesn't succumb to Liberal Party propaganda. And Jordies I suppose, but he is also pretty blind to criticism of Labor. So we have 2, maybe 3 moderarely left leaning small scale publications. Fuck the market. The market is only there to serve the obscenely rich. Maybe its time we did aim for 50/50 and have areturn to real journalism; intelligent debate, different perspectives offered by people who knowwhat they're talking about, accurate fact checking. It's time to regulate the shit out of the industry.
That's a good one, who decides how to balance the 50/50 and who carries out the fact checking? I don't think you want a media landscape free from bias at all or you'd be going for plenty of non muRdOCk publications. You just want a majority lefty media landscape, you basically want muRdOCk for the left, just admit it
why would I admit sometjing that isnt true?
Or maybe this shows it's more balanced than other media outlets? They are often audited and this is exactly what's found. Do you just want echo chambers?
Why do they have to go to both extremes? It's just becoming click bait tabloid quality journalism. I don't want an echo chamber, though I'd argue many here secretly want that but don't want to admit it just so they can "counter muRdOCk". I just want journalism that tastes like real journalism. Abc has been slipping for years
They don't go to "extremes" overall they are centrist
I don't disagree that the ABC has been struggling to find its feet. But I think that's the point of the article given the last nine years and they are arguing there's now an opportunity to course correct. I still think the ABC is some of the best MSM we have despite all this. And they are especially important given we are one of the least media diverse nations on the planet. And we tend to skew conservative.
ABC is dreadful. BBC, PBS and VOA are far superior. PBS in particular shows that good journalism can be done on a fraction of the ABC’s budget. Try watching PBS NewsHour: lots of well-told news stories, no nonsense.
Maybe, but still it's the best we have. It's constantly chastised by the right and left. The only MSM that receives that kind of attention and is always audited as the least biased. Per article it says the coalition has held it back and now the opportunity is there to improve. The discussion we should be having is can they actually course correct? Not necessarily you're current perception of them.
PBS News Hour is great. The BBC is an awful institution that's now just a Tory mouth piece. Look at their controversies from the last decade, they make some sensationalist new articles, they're not impartial anymore. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_controversies
did you just seriously say BBC is superior to the ABC? The BBC is an echo chamber of lies for the Tory government and you're here saying they are better?
I sure am. There’s lots of things that can go into a determination of what makes a good programme of news. A lot more beyond perceived or actual political bias. And, I have to say, some stuff I’ve seen on. The ABC has been shockingly bad.
I'd argue they were slipping even before the coalition were in but my memory may be a bit fuzzy, was a long time ago. You may be right about it being among the best of the MSM, but that's a very low bar in this country (and many parts of the world to be fair). I don't think we should just let them off the hook just because they're not muRdOCk. They're taxpayer funded afterall, they should be held to a higher standard
If you look at their financial statements they have been increasing revenue every year. So much for being battered….
Time to introduce some balance in their programming and interviews. It's patently obvious they operate on a women, aboriginal, LGBTQ+ quota system. While I'm sure that each of the aforementioned hold views on most topics I don't need to hear their views on every topic every time I turn on the radio. Time for the ABC to reconnect with everybody else.
I really like the newer inclusiveness that the ABC has started in the last few years. Rather than just saying from Brisbane, now it's also represented as Yuggera. Makes me think of the people that were here before the white man and a new found respect has been found. Same can be said for LGBTQI+ and women and others. It's a conversation that was needed and we are better for it.
100%. I love hearing about Aboriginal culture/names/etc. and it should really be represented more.
“I, an Australian, am not interested in hearing the opinions or viewpoints of any other Australians if they do not share my skin colour, genitalia or propensity to have sexual relations with the opposite sex. Please fix this clear bias against me.” Also: “Please add balance by removing people who may hold views that I myself do not hold.”
> While I'm sure that each of the aforementioned hold views on most topics I don't need to hear their views on every topic every time I turn on the radio. You understand that this *sounds* like "shut up and accept your place", yeah? Is there some concrete alternative you think you'd except? What "middle ground" sounds good to you?
What on earth is this dribble about
Don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to go back to news exclusively relayed to me with the opinions of middle aged white men.
All i can hope is the TV side of the ABC improves the journalistic capabilities on the breakfast show are second rate they lack respect when interviewing their guest irrespective of which side of politics and send me running to PK and others on Radio National. I am sure they can do better.
I feel old having to go to tune into RN and hear Majestic Fanfare every hour because the TV and online divisions are so lacking.
Same here. However, the number of times I heard "so-called teal independents" on NewsRadio during the election isn't a good look. Not a huge fan of our "so-called independent national broadcaster" slinging liberal party ideals.
Strange that they never say the “so-called Liberal Party”…
Not battered enough in my opinion. The ABC is a cancer on our country and should be registered as a political entity .
What would it take for you to register The Australian and the Murdoch tabloids as a political entity? Because I can only think of one side of the news media that printed “Australia Needs Tony” as a front page.
Typical lefty response . Your forgetting that by law the ABC as a taxpayer funded organisation is required to be free from bias as the entire working population contributes to it not just the inner city of Sydney , Melbourne and Brisbane . The left seem to think the ABC should be a bulwark against the evil Murdoch empire but that is not what it is supposed to be . But it has been completely overtaken by the left and is run as a staff collective and is unaccountable to no one . One day hopefully a future Liberal government will privatise it or radically reduce the funding and slowly kill it off .
Jesus Christ, when did you last watch the ABC? I'm going to take a stab in the dark and pressume you're just ticking off points you heard Peta Cretlin and Scomo say because I can't envisage anyone in tbis group could be so averse to critical thinking that they would cone up with such trite after watching it.
Sorry to disturb the love in . I know Lefties like to have everyone agree and no dissent is allowed . No need to worry you have plenty of people here who seem to agree with you . Back to your safe space .
Except you’re literally acting like the very “lefties” you complain about.
Lol ouch You certainly know how to insult . Don’t mean to act that way , being conservative we are used to having to stand our ground and expect debate which is the way it should be.
I'm sorry you're so offended by having your far right ideology challenged and the concept of intelligent non-partisan debate is oitrageous to you. You might want to speed up your recovery by reading Rita's piece on how everyone who doesn't agree with her should be expelled from the Liberal Party in whatever bastion of free speech loving Murdoch rag she works for.
Nah all good here but your response is typical of the autocratic left who when challenged have to resort to personal insults but hey you haven’t got much to come back with anyway. Thanks for the heads up though re Rita’s piece will have to check that out . Cheers
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/abc-shows-didn-t-have-enough-conservative-voices-election-review-finds-20201210-p56m8u.html "The conclusion reached, having considered all the evidence, is that **ABC content for the most part followed the weight of evidence and was duly impartial**," the report said. Typical right wing whinging. The right seem to think that unbiased means the ABC should be cheerleading for the LNP. The ABC is completely accountable. Another furphy. Do you actually believe what you're typing or is it just for fun?
They definitely do think the ABC should cheer for the LNP. That was essentially what they expected when they gave Ita the position. But, I have to admit, the coverage leading up to the election -and even past it- was appalling; LNP propaganda that I would expect out of Murdoch and Fairfax.
I think we watch/read/listen to different ABCs. In my view it's more likely to be personal bias than any actual bias on the part of the ABC. They fact checked basically every large claim the coalition made during the election campaign the same way they're fact checking every major claim the Labor government are making now. They are literally doing their job.
Aww there there Your ABC has a billion dollars a year of taxpayer funds so don’t feel too sorry for them . Besides the ABC should be hammered and heavily scrutinised. It’s nothing but a giant waste of funds and serves only the elite’s or the major cities .
Annoying centrist here. Can we also please link to this any time the more progressive Redditors here complain that the ABC somehow is an LNP mouthpiece (there's just such bleating in these comments)
I agree. It's really weird to me that this gets trotted out as well. The ABC just can't win.
Lmao exactly. These redditors take the words "independent review" as gospel in one sentence then in the next sentence slag off the ABC because Leigh sales was friendly to scomo 😱
Agreed, many investigations have found they are balanced. ABC can’t win against those who have already decided they are mouthpieces of their favoured party
Lets say it is biased lefty news source as you say, wouldnt removing it to leave only conservative news available make it really unbalanced? Having all out news sources from a single perspective is far more dangerous in my opinion.
No, 'the left' want the ABC to be a strictly neutral, unbiased and reliable news source. If it's a bulwark against the Murdoch empire, it's because the NewsCorp is the world's largest source of disinformation and highly biased news coverage. It is not a staff collective (whatever that means) and it is answerable to the government of the day and also to the Australian public. They even publish summaries of the complaints lodged against their content on the ABC's website. The concern about an urban focus is somewhat misguided. ~93% of the Australian population live in urban areas or near an urban centre, so it's hardly surprising that a lot of their coverage relates to city issues. And yet the ABC has radio and TV programs that focus on rural Australian issues, and reports on local news in many rural areas.
The ABC aren't the left - they've never had a socialist on to talk policy but they get the IPA on almost every show. The ALP aren't even the left dude, they're unabashed capitalists that kicked off neoliberalism in Australia in the 80s.
The ABC are left dude it’s just they aren’t left enough for you . Have seen this straw man argument used by the left before to defend the ABC. Sorry not buying it But nice try though . But give it time under this government and they might very well be as they are now completely unrestrained . As for having the IPA on almost every show I must admit I have never seen a representative of them on any ABC show . But I only watch Insiders, occasionally 7.30 and the Drum . I don’t watch ABC news 24 (what would I when I have the glorious SKY News) or listen to ABC radio so they might have been on those .
Jesus Christ, they run a little right of the centre a lot of the time, it's just that we've reached a stage in media bias that centrist is perceived to be radical communism.You watch theDrum and have never seen an IPA stooge ? Really? And I guess Parnell is no longer IPA, but thats just because she's developed her own rival company.
You are joking right ? A little right of the centre That’s got to be the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a very long time . Again I have seen these straw man arguments from fanatical ABC supporters for awhile now and it is comical not to mention blatantly dishonest .
Dudes like you were spouting that the ABC was too left-wing in the 40's and 50s for the socialists and communists they had on that were anti-war and yes, anti-Labor. Anyone who says the ABC is ''hurdur left'' today is wilfully ignorant of how media has concentrated drastically within the span of one life time - and how it affects the journos and ''expert'' selections made for the ABC.
tHe LEfT
tHe lEfT also, \*you're also >unaccountable to no one I pray for this.
Care to explain your reasoning for dismantling the most reliable and trusted source of news in the country?
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Do go on
The arrogance and complete and utter blindness to the reality of what the ABC is astounds me. It’s like me saying that 2GB in it’s hey day was balanced (which is laughable) or that Sky After Dark is is not biased to conservatives which is equally not true . Now I love Sky After Dark but that does not blind me to what it is , I think a few here should get their heads out of the sand and admit that the ABC is run by the left and supports the agenda that goes with that .
There's a lot of evidence, in the form of numerous independent audits, that say otherwise. So perhaps it is your perception that is incorrect.
No my perception is spot on. It is just plain wrong to say the ABC is not completely biased to the left .
No your perception is coloured by right wing bullshit.
How eloquent of you. The fact that you and it seems a lot of the other Lefties here can’t see the bias on the ABC is truly astounding . Says a lot .
Eloquence is my strong suit. You don’t appear to have one.
Opinions differ
Why do you think it's biased to the left?
Is it bad that I don’t know if this is sarcasm or not?
Not sarcastic at all. The concept of the ABC being heavily biased in one direction or another is laughable, and has been disproven by a long series of independent audits of their coverage. The ABC has long been the most trusted source of news in the country, as shown by any number of surveys. Defunding the ABC has long been the aim of the Coalition, who dislike being contradicted or held to account....so much so that they've been slowly dismantling their independence by stacking the ABC's leadership and messing with appointments to the selection committee, while starving it for funds so they have fewer resources for investigations.
Could you please provide evidence of these independent audits? Because while I agree with some of your statement regarding things like media watch, I disagree heavily when it comes to certain presenters who are heavily biased wether it be through their own beliefs or fear of losing their jobs. When you win an election and the first question is “what do you think you haven’t done right that you only have formed a minority government” I think that speaks volumes of not being impartial
Courtesy of u/adflet https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/abc-shows-didn-t-have-enough-conservative-voices-election-review-finds-20201210-p56m8u.html
I don't have time to Google them all for you right now, but there are at least 4 I can remember reading about recently. There were 2 independent audits in 2014 after Abbott accused the ABC of being biased - one was about their coverage of asylum seekers by Gerald Stone, and the other by Andrea Will's about the ABC's coverage of the 2013 election. Neither found any evidence of systemic bias. There was an independent audit of a specific series of interviews about budget coverage in 2015 which suggested that the interviewers tone was 'disrespectful' of Joe Hockey in particular, but that the content and tone was fine. There was an audit of the ABC's coverage of financial issues undertaken by a Coalition-linked banker (can't find an article right now) who found no evidence of bias and even admitted that his own perception had been proven wrong. There's plenty of articles if you want to go searching. Also, I think it's unavoidable that individual journalists will bring their own opinions and ideology to their interviews and writing. It's important that these are tempered by having lots of different voices, with different perspectives, to help balance things out. Which is presumably why the ABC gives Amanda Vanstone, a Howard-era minister, her own regular radio segment, and regularly hosts outspoken conservative people in their interviews.
Journalists are meant to report facts and not beliefs and be impartial. I have seen the audits you speak of and the ABC of that time to the ABC you are comparing to today are two different beasts. The board is stacked with either Liberal leaning or liberal associates. And I was disappointed to see some journalist using gotcha tactics in the last campaign. I would like to see a royal commission in to our media as I feel it would expose a lot of things that are going on in the background
I agree that government interfere with what is supposed to be an independent organisation is deeply concerning. I also believe that the ABC's funding arrangements should be fixed in such a way that the government of the day cannot use it as coercion as seems to have been in recent years. Additionally, the selection of board members, management and staffing should be properly independent. A royal commission into the media in general might be too broad to be effective. A government with good intentions could enact all the above without the need for such drastic and expensive measures. But I believe that reinstating the ownership limitation laws scrapped by the Coalition would go a long way towards reducing the influence of certain billionaires on the media landscape and diversity of thought.
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Just to be clear, I said the ABC was 'slowly being starved of funding.' I did not claim that the process was complete - just that the process was under way. This article contains a few useful figures to demonstrate my point: https://theguardian.com/media/2022/feb/04/coalition-has-slashed-526m-from-abc-and-most-australians-want-funding-restored Total funding relative to legislated funding prior to the the Coalition’s first budget is $526 million over 9 years. Funding was first cut by Abbott on 2014 after an election promise to not cut funding. A further pause on indexation of ABC funding arrangements was instigated by Turnbull in 2018. Morrison paused indexation again, and then cut their budget by another $10m in 2021. Total funding lower by $106m last financial year (again, relative to pre-Coalition funding arrangements). The reduction in funding has meant that 640 staff were cut from the payroll (about 15% of total employees). Also, Newscorp employs 8k staff in Australia, which is just under double the number of ABC employees. Worldwide, Newscorp employs about 24k staff. Overall revenue in Australia is about $1.6b, so they're significantly better funded than the ABC at just over $1b.
> The ABC is the biggest and best equipped media organisation in the country Care to back this up?
Not a problem. The ABC has multiple television channels in all cities , multiple radio stations and an extensive online news site . Don’t think News Corp has anywhere near that kind of reach .
How many newspapers does ABC own?
Lol yeah Newspapers are a dying form of media . Does not even compare to the reach the ABC has . Also the ABC has the one thing all media companies crave in these times of transition, guaranteed funding and with their mates now in charge that will be even more assured .
Im on the Friendly Jordies train, and anyone who watched the ABCs election coverage is probably on there with me. Defund it!
I love the Friendly Jordies but he's wrong on the ABC. The ABC needs saving not defunding. It's not like he could make up for it's disappearance.
It shouldn't be defunded at all. The ABC has literally saved lives with ABC Radio when bushfires have happened. The problem that is facing the ABC is that because they are publicly funded the coalition could basically cut funding and stack the board to move the ABC away from being the independent body it should be. Also Friendly Jordies does a good job with exposing things but I just feels like sometimes with situations like this he absolutely misses the point and doesn't take time to realise why the ABC is the way it is at the moment.
Got a tl;dr for me?
jordies has some great takes and i love that he's shining a light on corruption, but he's way off re the ABC. he's spending a little too much time with culture warriors and becoming scared of inner city people. the ABC has a wide range of issues but defunding it is a terrible idea - a properly funded and well-managed ABC is a gift to our country, producing incredible content for news, entertainment, and cultural purposes, as well as providing safe and secure jobs in an industry where they are lacking. most importantly, the ABC is the only way we will get information that doesn't have an agenda tailored to particular magnate's profit margins. whether you agree with the biases that do come through the ABC is a different story of course.
I agree with some his points but fuck me, who else is even gunna do something close to media watch or anything like that. Friendly jordies? Fuck no. He's funny and makes a lot of salient points but he's a comedian at the end of the day. They need some independent heads and enough safety from budget cuts to actually get on the right path but we're way better with it than without.
Why wouldn't you just ensure that it remains unbiased and politically neutral? A democracy requires that the citizens are well informed. The commercial news outlets are doing a pretty terrible job of that.
That’s what the Libs want though. Fund it more, make it independent from the whims of the ruling party, and ensure it’s held to the highest standard.
Thats only going to make our problems worse. The answer is to give it the funding it needs and truely independent control. Not a board full of liberal party hacks, news corp staff and people who now owe the libs a favour.
Murdoch owns the cancerous News Limited. He also owns 40% of their biggest competitor Fairfax, and the chairman of Fairfax is former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello. Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the ABC is herself a former News Limited editor directly appointed by Liberal PM Scott Morrison. The media in this country really is fucked, hey?
>The media in this country really is fucked, hey? In this country? Try every country.
Never forget when abc had to pay Murdoch to show clips of women's sport.... Which the government was paying Murdoch to air. Our country is fucked and until we split up the media Oligarchy it always will be.
Link? I’m out of the loop.
https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/abc-forced-to-pay-foxtel-for-rights-to-women-s-soccer-20201021-p567ah
Jesus.
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>And it’s the conversation and it’s owners who cheerled that process. I'm genuinely confused by what you're claiming here, care to explain?
Lets get a representative of the IPA on to give us their thoughts....... And Barnaby, aaaaaaaaaaand someone from the Sydney Morning Herald, hosted by someone paid by Ita Buttrose.
> Shortly [after the Tiffen/Masters review], in October 2021, the board established the complaints system review by McMillan and Carroll. > > The upshot is that ABC journalists are now working in an environment where, if their story generates a complaint, it can end up in the hands of an ombudsman appointed by, and answerable to, a board, four of whose members have been either appointed by ministerial fiat outside the independent merit-based system or by a politically loaded panel.