PUBLIC BROADCASTING – AUSTRALIA

ABC criticised for massive coverage of Queen’s death

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Original article by George Hyde
The New Daily – Page: Online : 16-Sep-22

The ABC has defended its broadcast and online coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, amid claims that it has been excessive. Former ABC broadcaster Quentin Dempster says that while there is strong residual regard for the Queen as Australia’s head of state, her death is not the top story at the moment; he argues that climate change is the biggest story, followed by the war in Ukraine and the potential threat of nuclear war. The ABC will have 29 employees in Britain for its coverage of the Queen’s funeral, although this includes two Europe-based correspondents who are also reporting on other stories.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

ABC’s login plan to stem exodus fuels privacy fears

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Original article by Tom Burton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 23-Feb-22

The ABC has defended its decision to require mandatory logins for users of its iview platform from 15 March. Amongst other things, the public broadcaster argues that personalised iview services will allow users to receive program recommendations and resume watching a show at any time and on any device. The ABC also claims that a more personalised iview experience could prevent the loss of younger audiences, which it says appear to favour the enhanced platform offerings of international video-on-demand services. However, privacy advocates have expressed concern about the ABC’s push for iview logins.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, IVIEW

The ABC’s budget hasn’t been restored – it’s still facing $1.2 billion in losses over a decade

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Original article by Alexandra Wake, Michael Ward
The New Daily – Page: Online : 10-Feb-22

The ABC’s management has welcomed the federal government’s new three-year funding package and the abolition of the budget indexation freeze that was imposed in 2018. The ABC will receive $3.284bn over the three years from 2022-23, including $45.8m to continue its enhanced news gathering program for local public interest journalism in regional areas. However, analysis shows that the ABC’s funding has been cut by $783m in total since 2014, and it faces accumulated funding cuts of $1.201bn over the period from 2014-15 to 2024-25.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Senate shoots down Bragg’s ABC complaints inquiry

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: 4 : 24-Nov-21

A motion to suspend a Senate committee’s inquiry into the complaints handling processes of the ABC and SBS has been passed by one vote in the upper house. Three independent senators backed the motion that had been put forward by Labor and the Greens. The inquiry had been launched by Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, who says the ABC’s own independent inquiry into its complaints system is not as strong as the proposed Senate probe. The inquiry will be put on hold until after the federal election.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

ABC dismisses Fox News’ Four Corners complaint

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Age – Page: Online : 8-Nov-21

The ABC’s internal complaints department has found that "Fox and the Big Lie" did not breach the national broadcaster’s code of practice. The two-part Four Corners documentary examined how US cable network Fox News covered the 2020 presidential election. Fox News called for an external inquiry into the Four Corners story shortly after it had been broadcast, and the ABC is said to have provided Fox with a detailed response as to why its complaints had been dismissed. The ABC recently commissioned a review of its procedures for handling complaints, its first such review in 12 years.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, FOX NEWS

ABC board left out on legal costs

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Original article by James Madden, Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 3 : 27-Oct-21

The ABC’s MD David Anderson has told a Senate estimates hearing that he made the decision to pay the legal costs of journalist Louise Milligan in a defamation case, and he did not consult the public broadcaster’s board. Anderson defended his actions by saying he had legal advice to the effect that the ABC could potentially have been held vicariously liable for Milligan’s social media posts regarding Liberal MP Andrew Laming; this could have resulted in legal costs for the ABC of up to $700,000. It is estimated that the ABC has incurred legal costs of about $184,000 arising from the case.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

ABC in cover-up claim over Louise Milligan’s tweets about MP Andrew Laming

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Original article by Janet Fife-Yeomans
The Daily Telegraph – Page: Online : 26-Oct-21

The ABC is under renewed scrutiny over Andrew Laming’s defamation payout after the public broadcaster declined to release 161 documents concerning the case. The documents in question involve internal discussions regarding the tweets of journalist Louise Milligan about the federal Liberal MP. The documents were requested via freedom of information laws, but the ABC released copies of the documents in which most of the text had been blacked out. One Nation MP Mark Latham has urged Communications Minister Paul Fletcher to release all documents relating to the Laming case.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Their ABC: no so trusted anymore

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Original article by Evan Mulholland
The Spectator Australia – Page: Online : 22-Oct-21

The ABC has fallen from 10th to 19th place in Roy Morgan’s latest ranking of Australia’s most trusted brands. In a webinar discussing the results of the survey, Roy Morgan social scientist Dr Ross Honeywill comments that the ABC has now fallen from fifth place in just two years, while Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says that a lot more people seem to be of the view that the ABC is biased than was previously the case. Declines in its trust rating in Roy Morgan’s monthly net score rankings appear closely linked to media controversies of which the ABC was at the centre.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, ROY MORGAN LIMITED

‘ABC’s $150k legal costs move flawed’

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 3 : 19-Oct-21

Auditor-General Grant Hehir has found that there is no documented advice within the ABC to support the public broadcaster’s decision to pay the legal costs of journalist Louise Milligan in the Andrew Laming defamation case. The Liberal MP’s lawsuit ended up costing the ABC about $150,000 in total. Meanwhile, John McMillan and Jim Carroll have been appointed to head an independent review of the ABC’s in-house complaints unit, which has come under growing scrutiny in recent times. McMillan is a former federal and New South Wales ombudsman, and Carroll has previously worked for SBS and the Ten Network.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

ABC’s botched doco to cost jobs

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 19 : 4-Oct-21

The ABC recently withdrew a mini-series examining the 1975 disappearance of Sydney activist Juanita Nielsen from its streaming platform, after it was revealed that the mini-series may have aired false claims. It is believed that some people at the ABC may lose their jobs as a result, with the controversy regarding the Juanita Nielsen mini-series coming not long after an independent assessment into an ABC program into the 1979 Sydney Luna Park fire that killed seven people found it was misleading and had incorrectly implied a relationship between former NSW premier Neville Wran and underworld figure Abe Saffron.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION