Top Marks for cosying up to News Corp – but Hugh knows if it’ll stop constant attacks on the ABC?

Hugh Marks has given three exclusive interviews to The Australian, one of the ABC’s chief critics. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

A year into his role as managing director of the ABC, Hugh Marks has made one thing clear. The Australian newspaper, a notable chronicler of the ABC’s perceived sins, is his “new friend”.

Since December, the former Nine Entertainment chief has granted the Murdoch broadsheet three exclusive interviews. Last week, a day after the national broadcaster’s first strike in 20 years, Marks was reported by the Oz to be “unpicking the ABC’s union-driven culture”.