A major ABC restructure will see the abolition of the separate regional and radio division and lead to redundancies of management and staff.
The managing director of the ABC, David Anderson, has moved to assure staff the biggest restructure since 2017 does not mean the importance of the regional bureaux or radio is being downgraded.
“This in no ways diminishes the importance of what we do, as many of Australia’s favourite podcasts and radio programs today are presented by the ABC,” Anderson said.
Regional journalists will be moved into the news division, while radio networks, including Radio National and Triple J, will move into a single content division with television.
Staff were told the reorganisation was necessary to streamline and simplify the commissioning process. It will take place on 1 July.
The creation of just two pillars of ABC programming – content and news – is meant to equip the broadcaster for the digital age. Anderson said audiences are moving from broadcast radio to streamed or on-demand audio and the organisation needed a “digital first” structure.
“Today we have one of the largest teams of specialist rural reporters in the world,” Anderson told staff in an email. “With 60 additional journalists, we now have approximately 600 content makers in regional Australia, operating from 58 locations outside the state and territory capitals.”
The ABC would not say how many jobs would be lost.
“Change is never easy,” Anderson said. “Clearly this restructure impacts some of our leaders. Where this occurs, we will seek to redeploy as many affected employees as possible. But we expect there will be some redundancies and consultation with those leaders who are impacted is under way.”
The newly appointed chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, said the change was about “adapting for the digital world and maintaining value for our audiences so that we are here for all Australians – trusted, valued and relevant into the future”.
Lee Glendinning, a former Guardian Australia journalist has been appointed head, digital news, with oversight of the national digital teams and the social media news output.
The former head of the ABC’s regional and local division, Judith Whelan, has already moved into the role of editorial director after the retirement of Craig McMurtrie.
ABC television executive, Jennifer Collins, has been appointed head of screen content, reporting to Oliver-Taylor.
Anderson said the changes will “enable us to ensure the ABC continues to be as important to Australians in the future, just as it has for the past 90 years”.
