25 June 2000 to The Australian
Response to Australian
article re new ABC MD's Plumbing Plans
The ABC's new Managing Director,
Jonathan Shier, is in the news. But the news sounds worrying. Senior
ABC staff dispensed with; new senior appointments made without the positions
advertised; condemnation of previous management; denigration of the
ABC compared with other public broadcasters; little enthusiasm for current
affairs broadcasting; much enthusiasm for improving the ABC's ratings
and marketing; and limiting his opposition to advertising to 'the main
services'.
Equally concerning, in his
address to the media which followed a meeting with ABC staff last week,
Mr Shier strongly intimated that it is the ABC which must change to
earn the support of government. Here and elsewhere, governments mostly
abhor criticism and strive to control independent sources of information
and analysis. Action of a nature which would endear the ABC to such
a government is likely to be contrary to the broadcaster's obligation
to be independent from government, to fully inform the public and scrutinise
the activities of government.
A new MD is expected to want
to make changes, to leave his imprint on a major public institution
like the ABC. However in the end, and even in the short term, he will
be judged by the appropriateness, intelligence and integrity of his
decisions.
To apply his own metaphor,
will he be a 'plumber' who identifies and addresses the main source
of blockages - such as the government's ferocious funding cuts and continuing
antipathy to the ABC's independence?
Mr Shier has the rare privilege
of leading one of the finest public broadcasters in the world, and one
which has largely retained its integrity and its wide community support,
despite years of hardship and denigration. Both the ABC's reputation
and his own depend on Mr Shier proving to be the right sort of plumber.
Yours sincerely
Darce Cassidy
National Spokesperson