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Quarterly Newsletter: Winter 2000 Vol.2 No.2

The Cinderella treatment

In the past few weeks the ABC has been shabbily treated by the Government, both in the federal budget and in the legislation now before the Senate which controls the use of the digital spectrum. By starving the ABC of funds, and through legislation denying the ABC access to important emerging technology, the present Government is attempting to freeze the ABC out of the future.

Moreover, it is now clear that only one third of the total of $184 million required for digitisation has been provided by the Government. Funding the remainder puts huge stress on the resources of the ABC and further pressure to find commercial sources of revenue.

Pressures to become more commercial come from all directions. From the companies who benefit from outsourcing. From cash-strapped management. Doubtless from many on the Board. Even from many within the ABC desperate for more money for their programs. Above all, from government. The inherent dangers in this for the integrity and survival of the ABC are brushed aside in the current climate. But we've been there before, and should know better.

The ABC went through a period in the early '90s when ethical and editorial guidelines were broken and those responsible were protected. Dodgy infotainment programs, backdoor sponsorship, editorial compromise, abuse of editorial guidelines, protection of sponsors' interests and of involved ABC staff, abuse of the whistleblower - the ABC experienced all of these. And, remarkably, recovered and kept the trust of the people.

But in today's climate of public cynicism could the ABC's integrity survive another episode like that of the period 1991-96? Where would the ABC stand now in public trust and esteem if John Millard had not blown the whistle, risking his career, his personal life and his health?

Feng's ABC

Feng Jian Wen, a Chinese painter who arrived in Australia in 1996, features the ABC logo in a series of his works exhibited recently at the TinSheds Gallery at the University of Sydney.

'Feng has been inspired by the swirling signature of the ABC logo, made by ostensibly happy Australians to advertise our national television network. For him, the fingers pointed so hopefully in the air symbolise the mythic happiness of democratic freedom.

'The use of the symbol taken from the ABC television promotional adverts is infused with the dark underbelly of a society which promises democratic freedom. He found in his experiences that there is a strong sense of inequality; that things are not as sunny and happy go lucky. So in that sense the use of the symbol can be thought of as an ironic commentary.'

Gallery notes