The days of stacking the ABC board and its nominations panel with captain’s picks may be over. The Labor government has pledged to make sure ABC board members are appointed on the basis of expertise in a transparent and impartial way and are able to operate independently, the new minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, said.
In the decade since an independent nominations panel was established by Labor to appoint ABC board members based on merit rather than political affiliation, the Coalition has ignored or circumvented its spirit. The Abbott government made a mockery of the process by appointing vehement ABC critics to the panel, including Janet Albrechtsen and former Liberal minister Neil Brown, who once called for the corporation to be privatised.
Rowland told Weekly Beast she would “revisit” the makeup of the ABC board nominations panel, which has several vacancies. “The reason for the nomination panel was to ensure that there was this extra layer of transparency and I think whatever actions we take in future as a government will be mindful of those principles,” she said.
Rowland said she believes in board autonomy, so we are unlikely to see extraordinary interventions such as the time in 2020 when then Liberal communications minister, Paul Fletcher, asked the ABC chair, Ita Buttrose, if the Four Corners program which alleged inappropriate conduct by two ministers met the standards of accurate and impartial journalism.
“As minister I will enable the ABC Board to operate independently,” she said.
ABC managing director David Anderson welcomed Rowland’s comments to the Guardian last week on a five-year funding package to provide the national broadcaster with financial stability.
“Moving beyond the current three-year funding cycle will strengthen the independence of the ABC,” Anderson told Weekly Beast.
“The ABC is celebrating its 90th year as an independent broadcaster that has served this country well, and a change in policy that provides more stability and certainty is recognition of how the ABC has connected and helped build a cohesive community and enriched our culture by showcasing Australian stories.”
Tennis training
When the 2GB newsreader on the 5.30am news bulletin on Sunday said Australian tennis champion Alex de Minaur won his Wimbledon match “sixty-three, sixty-four, seventy-five” listeners were taken aback. Is this a record tennis match or a mistake, they wondered. We checked with the Nine Radio station and you weren’t hearing things: the newsreader did say 63, 64, 75, instead of 6-3,6-4,7-5.
Weekly Beast understands she was working overnight, is relatively new and was given a sporting script which said 63, 64, 75. Nine Radio has provided further training to the newsreader and the rest of the news team.
Qantas content caveat
There are fears the ABC will struggle to remain independent under a new deal to provide in-flight and departure lounge news.
Concerned journalists asked management if the bulletins on Qantas flights would be subjected to censorship.
In 2009, when Channel Nine was providing the bulletins to Qantas, it admitted to omitting reports about airline crashes: “We never report news involving plane incidents on Qantas inflight news bulletins.”
The ABC will do the same, but in every other way the bulletins will be independent and will not shy away from reporting on Qantas woes. They will also allow comedy sketches about Qantas’ shortcomings.
“ABC News channel will be livestreamed into Qantas lounges as it goes to air,” a spokesperson for ABC News told Weekly Beast.
“The mid-flight bulletins are under the full editorial control of the ABC. We will, for example, be free to report on any industrial or business matter relating to Qantas or any other airline. We have agreed to not include reports of aviation incidents, such as plane crashes, in the mid-flight bulletins to avoid distressing passengers during a flight.”
Examiner presses stop
Since 1842 the Launceston Examiner has been printing daily papers for the Tasmanian city. The first printing press was apparently smuggled into the colony disguised as brewery equipment.
But this week a mechanical failure stopped the Examiner from printing a physical edition on Wednesday.
“There have been many natural disasters such as floods, fires and snow stopping drivers from dropping the paper off at subscribers’ doorsteps over the masthead’s 180 years, but the Examiner has always managed to get one printed,” the Australian Community Media publication reported online.
The print centre’s site manager Shane Brooks said a compressor breakdown at 12.30am literally stopped the presses and it couldn’t be repaired at that hour.
“All the equipment runs on air, so if you’ve got no air, it’s like no power,” Brooks said.
An online edition was offered free for that day.
Abortion post apology
Nine News has apologised after crime reporter Lana Murphy posted a photo of herself laughing and holding a placard saying “Mary (The Virgin) should’ve had an abortion” at a pro-choice rally.
“On the weekend, a 9News journalist posted an image to her personal social media account that caused offence to some members of the community,” Nine said.
“The journalist did not mean to cause any offence, but has been counselled on why the post was not appropriate.
“9News apologises to anyone offended by the post. We respect all sides of this sensitive issue and pride ourselves on reporting with impartiality.”
Murphy, who shut down her Twitter account after the backlash, issued a personal apology for causing offence to the religious community. “In my role as a journalist I always strive to remain impartial and respectful to either side of rational debate,” she said in a statement.
‘No input’ into ABC archive cuts
The director general of the National Archives of Australia, Simon Froude, has told staff that the NAA had “no input” into the ABC’s decision to restructure its archives and make 58 archivists and librarians redundant. In a leaked memo seen by Weekly Beast, Froude distances himself from the ABC’s unpopular proposal, which involves introducing 30 new roles, including “content navigators” who will work in newsrooms to assist journalists with using the digitised ABC archives.
“Over the last week or so you may have seen media coverage concerning the announced reduction in professional library and archival staff at ABC,” Froude said. “The Australian Society of Archivists has subsequently invited its members to sign an open letter to the Chair of the ABC Ita Buttrose, expressing concern about this action and the future of the ABC archives, library and information services.
“National Archives of Australia will continue to work with the ABC in relation to the retention and preservation of its content, and the transfer of RNA material, as we do with other commonwealth agencies. It is important to note however that we had no input into the decisions of the ABC in respect of the proposed changes.”
After the outcry about the proposed changes, which are being discussed with staff and unions, the ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, said the ABC archives was an asset of national importance and the ABC would always protect it.
He said the ABC had “engaged” with the NAA, but he did not mean the body was consulted about staffing changes.
“Before undertaking this important project we engaged with similar organisations that have already completed or are in the process of preserving their legacy media collections, including the National Archives of Australia, the BBC and CBC,” he said.
An ABC spokesperson said the broadcaster had consulted regularly during the digitisation project with a number of organisations, including the NAA.
“Claiming the proposed changes to the ABC Archives team would damage or ‘gut’ ABC Archives is false,” the spokesperson said.
“The Archives digitisation project is protecting our national heritage and making it more accessible for content makers and all Australians.
“Redesigning how the ABC Archives team operates brings us into line with international best practice and will modernise how the team works to support our content makers.”
Out of the pool and into the war zone
The prime minister’s secretive trip to Ukraine had space for just one journalist, one photographer and a TV camera operator.
The Australian’s defence and foreign affairs correspondent, Ben Packham, was the lucky reporter, chosen out of a hat.
In what is an unusual occurrence, Packham’s reports from the war-torn country were published not only in the Australian, but in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, as well as on ABC Online and elsewhere.
The ABC carried a line at the end disclosing the arrangement: “Ben Packham reported from Ukraine on behalf of the Australian travelling media.”
Packham wrote: “The trip was made under a strict media blackout imposed by the prime minister’s office on the advice of the Australian Defence Force.”
“Mr Albanese’s presence in the country was supposed to remain a secret until he was back in Poland. The media’s phones and other devices had to be surrendered in order to make the trip.
“But his presence in the country was revealed on social media, as he travelled around the Ukrainian capital, and its surrounds.”
