15 September 2007
Natural History Unit : Please ACT
The ABC is being Dismantled. Act NOW!
The ABC's Natural History Unit, which produces world-class documentaries on wildlife and the environment, is to be closed.
The ABC has given the community no reason for it axing this unit that has produced an impressive list of award-winning programs.
Only a matter of weeks ago, in response to general FABC concerns about inadequate ABC funding, the ABC managing director Mark Scott assured Friends of the ABC 'the ABC is doing just fine'. So why has the ABC taken this action?
The ABC is being privatised by stealth. This is the latest in the ABC’s moves to dismantle and outsource the public broadcaster’s production capacity to the private sector.
Info on ABC Natural History Unit:
http://www.abc.net.au/nature/nathist
* Contact the ABC and let them know your feelings on the closure of this important unit. And let others know.
* Write to and ask for an explanation from:
Mark Scott
Managing Director
ABC
GPO Box 9994
Sydney 2001
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Open letter to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Board
Maurice Newman
Chairman
ABC Board
15th September 2007
Dear Mr Newman
Re: Closure of the ABC's Natural History Unit
We are dismayed at ABC plans to shut down its Natural History Unit.
ABC wildlife and environment documentaries have enthralled audiences since the ABC began producing them in 1969. Importantly, they have enhanced community appreciation of the environment.
A winner of many prestigious awards, the ABC's Natural History Unit (NHU) is acclaimed worldwide for its excellent programs focusing on Australian nature issues and those of our neighbours - Papua New Guinea, South East Asia and Antarctica.
Local documentary-making will suffer without the NHU. The high standards it sets for Australian documentaries will be diminished. Its role in training and nurturing natural history program-makers inside and outside the ABC will be lost.
The ABC has a great history of producing quality natural history programs. Its contribution to public understanding of the significance of the environment to Australia's future is crucial.
The national broadcaster has the strong support of the community to secure the government funding it needs to continue to be an independent world-class producer. We call on the ABC Board to meet its obligations under the ABC Charter to inform and educate by immediately reversing its decision to close the Natural History Unit.
Yours sincerely
Professor Ian Lowe AO, President of the Australian Conservation Foundation and Emeritus Professor of Science and Technology at Griffith University
Penelope Figgis AO
Vice-Chair, Australia and New Zealand, IUCN (the World Conservation Union) World Commission on Protected Areas
Chris Baxter OAM, founding editor of 'Wild' magazine
Ken Taylor, founding producer of the ABC's Natural History Unit
Professor David Lindenmayer, Fenner School of Environment and Society (formerly The Centre for Resource & Environmental Studies), Australian National University
Professor Tom Griffiths, environmental historian, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University
Julia Playford, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Integrative Biology, The University of Queensland
Professor Emeritus David Yencken AO, Chair of the Australian Collaboration
Don Henry, Executive Director of the Australian Conservation Foundation
Virginia Young, Acting Director, The Wilderness Society
Dr Peter Christoff, Coordinator of Environmental Studies at the School of Social and Environmental Enquiry, University of Melbourne, Vice President of the Australian Conservation Foundation
Professor Alan Knight, National Spokesperson, Friends of the ABC and Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at the Queensland University of Technology and an Emeritus Professor at Central Queensland University
© Friends of the ABC Vic Inc. GPO Box 4065, Melbourne 3001
Ph (03) 9682 0073, Fax (03) 9682 0074, Email: fabcvic@vicnet.net.au
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