ABC cuts Lateline. Who Gains?
25 July 2000
Friends of the ABC, the organisation
which represents the community's interest in their national public broadcaster,
is deeply concerned at ABC management's decision to cut back the length
and depth of ABC television current affairs program, Lateline.
"Coming in the context
of consistent speculation about the downgrade of ABC current affairs
generally, reductions in the length and depth of Lateline are an abdication
of the ABC's responsibility to provide independent, quality current
affairs.
"At worst, the ABC's
new management could be seen as acting to promote the interests of friends
in government - attempting to assist a government which has continually
demonstrated its over-sensitivity to public scrutiny.
"At best, the decision
to downgrade Lateline reflects a failure to appreciate the importance
of the ABC's role in producing independent current affairs in a democracy."
Darce Cassidy
FABC National Spokesperson