background briefing 2-2 ..............5

Testing times

'It is ironic but delightful, that the public broadcaster has been able to increase its audience share during a period of budgetary restraint. We are working harder.' ABC television network programmer Hugh McGowan last December.

The ABC's television audience reached an all-time high of 15.1% in 1999.

But hold it there. Isn't this the McGowan who appeared to be successful in his application for the post of head of television before he was deemed to have failed on a five-hour psychological test? Indeed it is - the respected head of television programming resigned from that position in disgust after his final meeting with new managing director Jonathan Shier, whose decision it was to use the psychological tests in his recruitment drive.

As Leo Schofield in the Sunday Telegraph put it, 'it's a bloody shame that the ABC is to lose Hugh McGowan. He was always courteous, direct, sharp and with a fine eye for what the public wants. 'The big question buzzing round the ABC: did Jonathan Shier undergo a psychological test before his appointment as managing director of the ABC?

'Those in the know say the answer is no. The other candidates for the job have told The Australian they were not subjected to the testing. Why then, staff are asking, is Shier imposing such tests on senior executives, especially those with a proven track record with the ABC?'

Sunday Telegraph, 7/5/00

Why, indeed.

And for the record, the ABC gained ground from the commercial broadcasters for the second year in a row. Figures for the 7.30 Report, Foreign Correspondent and Stateline were up, and Four Corners had a 27% rise. Children's audience in early morning TV has gone from 48.2% to 49.7%.

Back in December when these figures were released, Hugh McGowan, once Channel 10 Sydney's program manager, said this: "I had a marketing budget of more than $2m just for Sydney at Channel 10 in the 1980s. The ABC's entire national budget for promoting our show is less than that. We can't take any more cuts. We are struggling now. I'm delighted that despite the cuts we have achieved record rating figures."

Source: Lisa Yallamas, Courier Mail Brisbane, 9/12/99

Unjust desserts for the Emperors of Air

In the USA it's called payola and in both the USA and the UK there are laws prohibiting it. In Australia we reward it. The recent inquiry into 2UE by the Broadcasting Authority found 90 breaches of the (voluntary) Commercial Radio Code of Practice by John Laws and Alan Jones. It also uncovered five breaches of 2UE's broadcasting licence requirement that political material be identified as such.

The two non-journalists were given a slap on the wrist and are now obliged to disclose their sponsors. They are back on air as cocky as ever, John Laws ridiculing the rules he is now obliged to obey. It was perhaps not surprising that their audiences stayed loyal, but surely the great and powerful would turn their backs, denying them the fodder on which they feed? Not so.

'Well, Kim Beazley did an interview with John Laws after the Broadcasting Authority inquiry on the day its report appeared. Next day the Prime Minister spoke with Alan Jones. Bob Carr, the NSW premier, was to line up the day after.

'According to the Sydney Morning Herald of February 10, the Prime Minister's office said it was Mr Howard's duty to get his message to the people, and the Jones program was an important way of doing this.'

'Of course our leaders are much driven by their own crude calculations. Nothing much matters but the size of the immediate audience, and the fear that their opponents would step in if they left a vacuum.

That, and a lingering fear of what might happen if they desert these powerful radio men in their hour of need.

Besides, the Prime Minister has long been a supporter of Jones.

'And so they set a public example that suggests the revelations from the Broadcasting Authority's inquiry don't really matter much. And if the nation's leaders are not troubled, should the rest of us be? Come home John Laws, come home Alan Jones, there's nothing to forgive.'

'At a party given by Foxtel to mark John Laws' third year at Foxtel the guest list included Bob Carr, Gough and Margaret Whitlam, Senator Natasha Stott Despoja and Germaine Greer. The absent Steve Bracks and Peter Beattie and others offered glowing testimonials on the big screen.

'When it was announced that the guest list showed that Laws still had pulling power, Germaine Greer called out, "It's not pulling power, it's money." But that's another story.

'The case has raised some questions that society might well ponder in a mirror.'

Quotes from David Bowman, Adelaide Review, April 2000