background briefing 3-1 ...............4
Quarterly Newsletter:Winter 2001, Vol.3 No.2
Intention to change the culture of the ABC came from the Board
How credible is the assertion by British television executive Stephen Claypole, shortlisted for the managing director's position in late 1999, that "some 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"?
Mr Claypole is reported as saying that during interviews and talks with ABC board members in Sydney 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." *
Two members of the board, Michael Kroger and Judith Sloan, said that there had been no such discussions. But the sackings of ABC staff that have occurred under the appointed managing director, Jonathan Shier, are consistent with the allegation.
'Shier said, via his corporate spokesman, that no board director ever told him to remove ABC Labor supporters, or large numbers of managers.
'Yet one defining feature of Shier's first year at the ABC is the systematic departure of dozens of upper-level managers, particularly those in charge of editorial content.'
'..before starting work, Shier got special permission [from Donald McDonald] to spend more than $253,000 with two executive search firms to help him find new managers.'
* *C BANHAM & P CLARK
SMH 12/3/01
We should not be surprised at Shier's expressed determination to change the culture of the ABC, which he is achieving with wholesale sackings and the appointment of many with a strong commercial background and little or no public broadcasting experience. After all, this was one of a list of 'essential attributes' for a new managing director as required by the ABC board .These included:
"A change manager, able to lead an organisation through significant cultural transformation."
We, the shareholders of the ABC, would have appreciated some transparency on this requirement from the chairman of the board. What did the board mean by this?
Whence had come the pressures to transform the culture of the ABC? Pressure had certainly not come from the shareholders.
'Relentless attacks wear down the ABC'
The ABC was a frequent target for funding cuts because it was regarded as 'troublesome', a former government insider has revealed. Greg Barnes, former chief of staff for Finance Minister John Fahey, said governments 'did over' the ABC because of its forthright reporting. The result was self-censoring.
"It's not because they regard them as being left wing or right wing, they simply regard them as being troublesome. I sat in the Expenditure Review Committee. Why do governments cut the ABC? Because they don't think they self censor enough. They think that this is our big chance, we've been waiting to do over this organisation, unlike Australia Post it actually says something and has views, and let's do it." Mr Barnes was speaking on a Late Night Live forum on bias in the ABC.
"And I think that's the real issue here. The issue about self-censorship is to some extent right but everybody does that in news organisations. So I don't think the ABC is immune from that. But I think the real issue is the fact that you do get a little bit of cowering and you're currently getting it because relentless attacks by Ministers in the Government and Board members of the ABC eventually wears you down. That's the real issue."
Rick Wallace
Herald
Sun 15/5/01
Cartoon courtesy Bill Leak
Perhaps the ABC should consider a new reality TV show - a kind of Survivor meets Media Watch. Viewers could vote in who next should leave the executive ranks of the national broadcaster and in what manner they should be drummed out of the Ultimo headquarters. It would not lack dramatic edge.
Anne Davies SMH 22/2/01