PUBLIC BROADCASTING – AUSTRALIA

ABC pushes ahead with job cuts in arduous year

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 10-Jun-20

ABC MD David Anderson has informed staff that budget cuts will force the public broadcaster to retrench more than 200 employees. Anderson also indicated that the ABC will initially seek voluntary redundancies in divisions that are likely to lose at least 10 employees, although forced redundancies will also be necessary. The ABC will releases its five-year plan later in June; it was delayed earlier in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The federal government imposed a three-year funding freeze on the ABC in 2019.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

ABC in the frame for tech giant payments

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 22-Apr-20

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims says that all media companies should be included in the revenue-sharing deal with Google and Facebook. This could potentially include the taxpayer-funded ABC, and Sims notes that the media sector will be in a weaker bargaining position if the public broadcaster is not involved. Meanwhile, the Victorian government will support regional journalism by spending $4.7m on advertising with non-metropolitan news outlets over the next six months.

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GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

ABC’s cash-for-Covid doctor slammed for seeking access to federal GP advisory contract

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Original article by Greg Brown, Brad Norington
The Australian – Page: 3 : 20-Apr-20

Dr Norman Swan, the host of ABC Radio National’s ‘The Health Report’, has been accused of a ‘conflict of interest’ by federal Liberal MP Craig Kelly. This follows reports that a company of which Swan is a director was trying to secure a contract for an advertising campaign funded by the federal government to promote awareness of COVID-19 among GPs at the same time that Swan was criticising the government’s strategy on the virus. Kelly claims Swan’s predictions about the impact of COVID-19 had been shown to be "alarmist and hopelessly wrong".

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

ABC sued for report on horse cruelty

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Original article by Brad Norington
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 3-Mar-20

Racing NSW CEO Peter V’landy is suing the ABC and journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna for defamation. The legal action relates to a story that aired on ‘7.30’ in October, in which it was alleged that hundreds of former racehorses were sent to abattoirs. V’landy had agreed to appear on the program on behalf of Racing NSW, and stated that no horses in New South Wales were being sent to abattoirs. His lawyers will allege that the ABC acted dishonestly in not telling him that it had undercover footage of animal cruelty that it was going to air on the program, and that V’landy should have been given the chance to explain that Racing NSW had no jurisdiction in Queensland, where most of the horses that were sent to abattoirs came from.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, RACING NSW

ABC won’t appeal Federal Court ruling that found AFP raids on public broadcaster valid

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Original article by
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 28-Feb-20

ABC MD David Anderson has advised that the public broadcaster will not contest the Federal Court’s recent decision to dismiss its challenge to the validity of police raids on its Sydney offices in mid-2019. The court found that the Australian Federal Police’s warrant to search the ABC’s premises was valid, and it ordered the broadcaster to pay costs. Anderson has described the ruling as a "blow to media freedom", adding that it has implications for journalists and the public’s right to know.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

ABC eclipses rivals on bias inquiry list

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 23 & 25 : 24-Feb-20

Of the 40 published reports produced by the Australian Communications & Media Authority between July 2015 and June 2019 that were prompted by complaints, 25 related to the ABC. ACMA found four breaches as a consequence of its published reports, with three relating to the ABC in regard to issues of fairness, impartiality and reply, including one relating to a report on former prime minister Tony Abbott. The revelations regarding the ABC come at a time when ACMA is conducting a review into commercial influence on free-to-air and subscription television news.

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AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Maurice Newman demands ABC apologise over Tex Perkins obscene gesture at NY Eve performance

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: Online : 2-Jan-20

Former ABC chairman Maurice Newman has accused the public broadcaster of breaching its charter during its New Year’s Eve coverage. The ABC aired footage of singer Tex Perkins making an obscene gesture towards Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Newman said the ABC should apologise for the incident, while Liberal senator Eric Abetz said both Perkins and the ABC should apologise for what occurred. A spokesperson for the ABC said it had no prior knowledge that Perkins was going to make such a gesture, while it noted its New Year’s Eve coverage had help to raise more than $2 million to help communities affected by the bushfires.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

ABC stands firm on Olympics coverage

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 3 : 28-Nov-19

The ABC will not back down on its decision to cease providing radio coverage of the Olympic Games. The ABC’s MD David Anderson and chair Ita Buttrose held talks with the Australian Olympic Committee’s president John Coates and CEO Matt Carroll on 27 November. However, a spokesman for the public broadcaster has confirmed that the ABC will not bid for the radio broadcasting rights for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Commercial radio networks are believed to have ruled out bidding for the broadcasting rights.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

Ita stymies ABC staff climate crisis group

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 3 : 21-Nov-19

Several of the ABC’s senior journalists have expressed support for a proposal to establish a staff climate crisis advisory group. However, ABC chair Ita Buttrose says the proposal does not have the support of the public broadcaster’s leadership team, adding that "it is not going to happen". Some journalists had warned that the proposal could be at odds with the ABC’s editorial guidelines.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

ABC budgets $23m for underpaid staff

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 3 : 19-Nov-19

The ABC has declined to comment on the likely cost of recompensing casual staff who were underpaid, but insiders claim that at least one employee will receive more than $60,000. The public broadcaster’s latest annual report indicated that it has allocated $22.98m for compensating casual workers who have been underpaid for up to six years, but a spokesman says the final figure is likely to be less than this.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR UNION, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE