background briefing 2-2 ..............9

Ian Henschke elected to the ABC Board

The newly elected staff representative to the board of the ABC is Ian Henschke, who currently works on Lateline and is based in Adelaide. In the same election, ABC staff elected Ramona Koval as deputy of the staff elected director. Ramona Koval is the presenter of Radio National's Books and Writing and is based in Melbourne.

Ian Henschke has worked in radio and television for 20 years. He has worked as a producer, presenter and reporter in rural and current affairs programs including Countrywide and The 7.30 Report. After working for The 7.30 Report in four states he joined Landline in 1997.

Ian has won numerous awards for his work in rural and current affairs. In 1999 he won the Banksia Award for Communication for his work on Landline and was Telstra Rural Journalist of the Year in 1998.

He also won the inaugural ABC/Reuters scholarship to Oxford University to study global warming and carbon trading and went on to make a documentary for Four Corners and BBC World.

We wish Ian all the best in his demanding new role.

ABC programs do the research and stay honest

by Queensland Farmers' Federation president Richard Armstrong

"This leads me to the real issue, of just how well rural people are served by our country radio and rural newspapers.

"Such programs as Country Hour and Landline on ABC, and the ABC news and current affairs have enormous credibility. We may not always agree with them, but it is always honest. These programs research issues properly, give a balanced point of view, and - I am sure - don't get paid a million dollars.

"These programs and the country newspapers give country people access to local and community news as well as global news. They provide an honest presentation of country Australia to people who might never hear of anything outside their own suburb and the opinions of talk-back presenters.

"They deserve out thanks and support."

Northern Miner, Charters Towers, 13/8/1999

And the winner is .... the ABC!

Our intention was to publish the list of awards that were given to the ABC in 1998-99 - but the list extends to four and a half pages of small print in the annual report for that year.

There were 21 international awards, 90 national awards (including 12 Walkleys, the most coveted, and 7 Logies), 60 State and Community Awards, 105 Enterprises Awards, and 6 Other Awards, including the Public Service Medal to Chris Masters of Four Corners in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Not a bad record - and it's much the same every year. Congratulations to all the teams at the ABC for broadcasting at its very best!