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Quarterly Newsletter: Autumn 2001, Vol.3 No.1
10,000 march in Canberra for the ABC
National identity, cultural excellence, comprehensiveness were themes taken up by all the speakers at the Canberra rally held on Sunday 11 February. An amazing 10,000 supporters marched on foot, rode bicycles, walked the dog or were transported by hired buses from Regatta Point across Commonwealth Bridge and up to Parliament House.
"The ABC holds up a mirror to the whole country. It is a unifying agent, the most important cultural institution in the country."
Who said this? Well, Ruth Cracknell told the huge rally of Canberra region Friends of the ABC that (ABC chairman) Donald McDonald did - and from that she concluded that "Donald McDonald sounds like our very best friend." So, Ruth went on to say, "Donald McDonald, put your money where your mouth is!"
"A public broadcaster broadcasts over the public air in the public interest, providing a service to the public as citizens, not as consumers," said Ruth Cracknell. "It should develop and cherish Australian talent, it should arouse our dreams, satisfy our hunger for beauty, help us to explore worlds beyond our experience."
This was heady stuff, a wonderful affirmation of what all friends of the ABC hold dear - and indeed what all 19 million 'shareholders' in the ABC have a right to expect from the Board of Directors and top management.
Ruth Cracknell
Do you hear the people sing! *
Who was it who said at the rally that we now know we are not alone in loving the ABC? Since early December rallies supporting the ABC have been held in almost every state and territory. Membership has soared - in the ACT it trebled in a month! There was a big resurgence of support in Darwin following their public meeting. In Adelaide community leaders rang to ask to speak at the SA rally. WA proudly reported that a group of not-so-young Friends distributing material were ejected from the West Midland Railway Station. Sydney Friends occupied the ground floor of the Ultimo building when the arrival of Federal Police intimidated ABC staff. And so it goes.
* Les Miserables
ABC supporters march down Commonwealth Avenue towards Parliament House
ABC board accused of Labor cull bidSome of the ABC board members who chose Jonathan Shier as their new managing director wanted a candidate who would remove a list of Labor Party 'sympathisers' from the broadcaster, according to a British TV executive. Stephen Claypole, formerly of the BBC, was shortlisted for the managing director's position in late 1999 but lost out to Mr Shier, who marks his first 12 months in the job this Saturday. Mr Claypole said that during interviews with ABC board members in Sydney - some one-on-one, some in pairs and eventually with the full board - he was surprised to hear some directors start talking about pro-Labor Party 'on-screen personalities and senior executives' in the national broadcaster. "It was clear they had a list of people they wanted to get rid of," he said. "Clearly there was an agenda for a very radical overhaul of the ABC." Mr Claypole said he was shocked to hear ABC board members discuss such an overtly political agenda. "The views I heard expressed were like something from a Third World broadcaster," he said. C BANHAM & P CLARK The Age, 12/3/01 |
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