background briefing .....................9
Friends of the ABC Australia

Letters

I've read that in sinister North Korea each house is equipped with a radio that cannot be turned off. The radio sings the praises of the almighty leader 24 hours a day and after a while people are brainwashed into believing whatever they are told on the radio and act as obedient, docile pawns of the State. In this country we allow 'entertainers' to undertake similar social engineering activities - the only difference being that they ask for a fee several times the GNP of North Korea to do so.

CLIVE SMITH, Alphington, Victoria

At home in the Kimberleys with local radio

During our recent car trip from Mackay to Broome and return via Birdsville, we heard some enlightening things about our ABC Regional Local radio presenters in the Kimberleys.

Coming from the East, Greg Hayes, doing the morning programme from his spare bedroom in Kununurra (AM 819) is the first voice to welcome you to the Kimberleys. His producer is busy pressing buttons in Broome (AM 675) over a thousand kilometres away. Through Greg's interviews you soon start to build a picture of who is involved in making things happen in the region.

Waking up early for the News and AM, the first local voice is George Manning welcoming you to another perfect Kimberley day from Broome. Pat Hagan then informs you of the entire Kimberley weather from coast to border.

George and Pat follow in the true tradition of ABC breakfast presenters. For example:

George: I've declared today the first day of winter.
Pat: Why, George?.
George: I had to turn on the hot water.
Pat: There you are folks, it's now winter.

With the temperatures being announced along the lines of 23 overnight to 35 during the all over the Kimberleys, one slips into the fun of the day.

On Saturday mornings, Pat does the whole morning as a sports show. He calls on all the sporting personalities for news of the many sports played throughout the Kimberleys. They too have their little jokes and jibes about other sporting people, so the picture is filled in.

So thanks to the local Kimberley presenters. You come away feeling that you too have been, for a short time, part of the Kimberleys.

JAN BURTON, Mackay, QLD

 

 

ABC (almost) top of the league

Most of the world's public broadcasters have suffered a fall in their audiences in recent years. Figures for the period 1991-97 show a percentage decrease ranging from -1% for the BBC, down to -10% in Germany, with Canada, Japan, Denmark, Netherlands Sweden and Spain also in negative figures. The only countries to show an increase in audience are France and Australia. The ABC's increase is over 2% - despite a fall in its budget of around 25% in that period.

Figures from The Economist, 7/8/99

FABC national website

www.fabc.org.au

This site will link state or regional sites under one common interface - that of our acronym "fabc" - while leaving these sites to operate independently. You will also be able to access your state sites through this one - at www.fabc.org.au/sa or www.fabc.org.au/nsw - as well as the existing addresses.

It will present information and news of national interest with publicity, press releases and briefing papers as they are written. Articles of special interest, such as the discussion on digitisation, can be posted there.

Parts of Background Briefing have made it to the site, enabling non-members to get news of our concerns and activities.

The advantage of a web site is its immediacy for the publication of news and the flexibility of formats - text, pictures, sounds, email contacts, file downloads.

From the Media Watch website

Name: Michael O'Brien

Remarks: Well done Media Watch! We're fortunate enough *not* to get Lawsie's radio show here in Melbourne, but the recent controversy piqued my interest and so I had a bit of a trawl through his website, "The Fortress". I found this gem in his self-laudatory "Life and Times" section, without even the merest smidgeon of irony:

'At a glittering black-tie dinner celebrating John Laws' 40th anniversary in Australian radio, Prime Minister Paul Keating handed him the ultimate compliment, hailing him as "the broadcaster of the century".

"You have re-written the rulebooks of Australian broadcasting," said the Prime Minister in a glowing tribute. "There is probably never going to be another one like you. No one has done it like you have." '

You can say that again.
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