topic Re: ABC becomes the story in Community Spirit

ABC becomes the story

davidc4430 — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 08:57:10 GMT

ABC becomes the story after unprecedented week of accusations and high-profile departures

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-27/abc-becomes-the-story-after-high-profile-departures/10310944

Mr Miln is prolly thinking "well that didnt go the way i thought it would"

now, reinstate Michelle Guthrie and hire a trustworthy chairman.

Re: ABC becomes the story

kopenhagen5 — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 09:43:04 GMT

Listened to Jon Faine and some of the people involved with the ABC and I think the consensus was that M. Guthrie had some good moments but was probably not up to the task.

And I agree from seeing her resume.

It will be difficult to find someone conservative, holding the traditional views of the ABC combined with expertise in modern media that combines social media and the internet.

Although I believe the ABC can stand alone and survive remaining conservative. It is afterall it's success.

Re: ABC becomes the story

davidc4430 — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 10:14:33 GMT

if a persons resume shows they are 'not up to the job' you dont give them a 5 year contract.

if thats what happened then the entire board must go.

they gave her the contract let them pay her out out of their wallets

Re: ABC becomes the story

kopenhagen5 — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 11:27:23 GMT

I see your point, however I think there simply wasn't anyone else on offer at the time and it seemed like a progressive move.

M. Guthrie would bring the ABC into modern media was the thought but Aunty has been Aunty for so long and I think Aunty needs to remain as Aunty.

To be fair on M.Guthrie, higher expectations with further budget cuts made the role more challenging.

This shuffle has brought up discussions and hopefully it gives birth to a more analytical process equating to better results in terms of where the future of the ABC lies with whom should be at the helm.

Re: ABC becomes the story

chameleon54 — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 10:32:10 GMT

Most of the ABC's problems stem from the fact that it has not respected its own charter. There is a lot of whaling and gnashing of teeth about the ABC.s editorial independence, but everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten, that with that privilege comes the responsibility to remain apolitical. The ABC has swung so far to the left of politics that any resemblance of editorial fairness and unbiased reporting disappeared many years ago.

Commentators and supporters of the ABC have publicly stated this week, that the broadcaster needs to have a strong left wing bias to counteract the perceived right wing bias of the mainstream privately owned commercial stations.

UUUMMMM NNNNOOOO !!!!!.........................the political persuasions of the owners of mainstream commercial stations have no bearing on the ABC.s responsibility and charter to remain politically neutral.

Now that the sackings have started, why not have a complete clean out. Sack the whole board, along with the blatant left wing leading reporters who have shown a complete disregard for the ABC.s charter. If they refuse to, or simply cant present reports without obvious political bias, get rid of them and replace them with some-one who shows a bit more professionalism.

The ABC has been completely trashed by the lefties and needs to have a major clean out, a new board and a refocus on delivering factual, unbiased news and current affairs. If it refuses to accept there are major problems within the organisation and clean up its act, there will be little choice but to privatise it and save taxpayers money for something more worthwhile.

Re: ABC becomes the story

johcaschro — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 11:21:41 GMT

The ABC reports the failings of Labor (govts.) as well. What can an honest news reporter do but report the news as it happens? (the dishonest Murdoch papers are awash with opinion masquerading as news and most of that opinion is, of course right-wing.

If the LNP takes issue with news media reporting their failings, their greed and their corruption, the solution is not to didpose of the media reporting such, the solution is to 'go forth and sin no more'.

Re: ABC becomes the story

johcaschro — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 11:44:33 GMT

You are aware that the federal govt selects the board members of the ABC?

What we need is a re-structuring so that the govt of the day is distanced from the direct board-selection activity.

Maybe what is needed is the appointment of a truly independent comittee who is responsible for selecting the ABC board members.

and to re-state, if govts don't like factual reporting of their activities, then it's probably time for govt to clean up their act and start governing in a fair manner, representative of the interests of all of the Australian people and not just in the interests of a select group of contributors to their coffers.

We have become like the USA where govt is the best which money can buy, and if you don't have much money to buy representation then truly, in our present system, you're stuffed.

Re: ABC becomes the story

davidc4430 — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 12:32:12 GMT

@chameleon54 wrote:
Most of the ABC's problems stem from the fact that it has not respected its own charter. There is a lot of whaling and gnashing of teeth about the ABC.s editorial independence, but everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten, that with that privilege comes the responsibility to remain apolitical. The ABC has swung so far to the left of politics that any resemblance of editorial fairness and unbiased reporting disappeared many years ago.

Commentators and supporters of the ABC have publicly stated this week, that the broadcaster needs to have a strong left wing bias to counteract the perceived right wing bias of the mainstream privately owned commercial stations.

UUUMMMM NNNNOOOO !!!!!.........................the political persuasions of the owners of mainstream commercial stations have no bearing on the ABC.s responsibility and charter to remain politically neutral.

Now that the sackings have started, why not have a complete clean out. Sack the whole board, along with the blatant left wing leading reporters who have shown a complete disregard for the ABC.s charter. If they refuse to, or simply cant present reports without obvious political bias, get rid of them and replace them with some-one who shows a bit more professionalism.

The ABC has been completely trashed by the lefties and needs to have a major clean out, a new board and a refocus on delivering factual, unbiased news and current affairs. If it refuses to accept there are major problems within the organisation and clean up its act, there will be little choice but to privatise it and save taxpayers money for something more worthwhile.

no reporters story gets aired without being checked by senior staff, if as you say, a story is not factual then its the person or persons doing the pre airing check and who gives the story the ok to go out that must be brought to heel for not doing their job.

why should a reporter lose their job if no one has said what they are doing is wrong?

not that i think any abc reporter has been biased, geeze, this govt has given just so much amunition to be made look inept.

its just one screwup after another.

so labor isnt getting the same treatment, they are not in government and are not kicking own goals daily!

if the lib/nats want good press then stop the rot!

but that aint gunna happen as changing leader hasnt fixed the problem, they have a group of white ants in their club!

they need a good pest control company.

Re: ABC becomes the story

johcaschro — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 12:38:27 GMT

Here's another piece of the story, David.

The ABC’s most high profile presenter, 7.30 host Leigh Sales, says the public broadcaster's board "has some serious questions to answer" over the dumping of managing director Michelle Guthrie and its handling by former chairman Justin Milne.

Sales, who grilled Mr Milne on her program immediately after his resignation on Thursday, said his board colleagues needed to explain why they didn't act on damaging emails they had been shown between him and Ms Guthrie until after they were revealed by Fairfax Media.

https://www.smh.com.au/

So it's not that the ABC and its journalists are at fault; it's that the board members of the ABC are appointed directly by the government, and therefore can lay no claim to being independant and free of bias as they are 'creatures of the government'.

This needs to change and we should be careful to lay the blame where it is due. It's quite apparent that the LNP govt wants to discredit the ABC to the degree that they can present what they will say are clear and compelling reasons for its privatisation.

Mean, dishonest and tricky; ever the character of people who seek personal profit at the expense of the common weal.

Re: ABC becomes the story

joztamps — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 12:55:58 GMT

@chameleon54 wrote:

Commentators and supporters of the ABC have publicly stated this week, that the broadcaster needs to have a strong left wing bias to counteract the perceived right wing bias of the mainstream privately owned commercial stations.

UUUMMMM NNNNOOOO !!!!!.........................the political persuasions of the owners of mainstream commercial stations have no bearing on the ABC.s responsibility and charter to remain politically neutral.

The ABC Charter does actually require it to take account of the broadcasting services provided by the commercial sectors of the Australian broadcasting system.

But it doesn't say anything about remaining "politically neutral".

Something which, in any event, is almost impossible to define and very much in the mind and prejudices of the beholder.

Re: ABC becomes the story

chameleon54 — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 14:00:15 GMT

@joztamps wrote:
@chameleon54 wrote:

Commentators and supporters of the ABC have publicly stated this week, that the broadcaster needs to have a strong left wing bias to counteract the perceived right wing bias of the mainstream privately owned commercial stations.

UUUMMMM NNNNOOOO !!!!!.........................the political persuasions of the owners of mainstream commercial stations have no bearing on the ABC.s responsibility and charter to remain politically neutral.

The ABC Charter does actually require it to take account of the broadcasting services provided by the commercial sectors of the Australian broadcasting system.

But it doesn't say anything about remaining "politically neutral".

Something which, in any event, is almost impossible to define and very much in the mind and prejudices of the beholder.

It would seem you have not actually read it. The statement highlighted is factually incorrect.

Re: ABC becomes the story

chameleon54 — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 14:16:56 GMT

Summary of the ABC charter as relates to impartiality

Impartiality and diversity of perspectives: in working to achieve this Principle the standards require that the ABC gather and present news and information with impartiality and presents a diversity of perspectives so that, over time, no significant strand of thought or belief within the community is knowingly excluded or disproportionately represented. The broadcaster is expected to take no editorial stance other than a commitment to fundamental democratic principles.

Section 8 of the ABC boards directive was ammended and passed into legislation in 2017 ( with the support of the greens ) and makes further statements regards " fairness and impartiality" of ABC reporting ".

Re: ABC becomes the story

davidc4430 — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 00:11:25 GMT

i think regardless of 'charters' its just 'not on' for a board chairman to be ordering the sacking of any member of lower staff, be they reporters or the car park attendant or anyone else.

correct protocol would be to have a cordial meeting with the persons senior officer to air ant grievance and discuss what should be done IF that grievance has 'legs'

in this case, we began with the chairman 'aledgedly' ordering the sacking of 2 reporters for the crime of being 'hated by the PM of the day'

when that order was refused he seems to have then coerced his fellow board members to sack the lady who refused is command!

sounds very murky to me and i believe not only chairman but the whole board has no option but to be replaced!!

wether the reporters are good bad or indifferent is NOT the story, its the way one man tried to use his position to 'get his way'

Re: ABC becomes the story

chameleon54 — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 03:21:56 GMT

@davidc4430 wrote:
i think regardless of 'charters' its just 'not on' for a board chairman to be ordering the sacking of any member of lower staff, be they reporters or the car park attendant or anyone else.

correct protocol would be to have a cordial meeting with the persons senior officer to air ant grievance and discuss what should be done IF that grievance has 'legs'

in this case, we began with the chairman 'aledgedly' ordering the sacking of 2 reporters for the crime of being 'hated by the PM of the day'

when that order was refused he seems to have then coerced his fellow board members to sack the lady who refused is command!

sounds very murky to me and i believe not only chairman but the whole board has no option but to be replaced!!

wether the reporters are good bad or indifferent is NOT the story, its the way one man tried to use his position to 'get his way'

The reason it is NOT the story, is that it is not in the ABC,s interest ( or other medias interest ) to acknowledge there has been a culture of political bias in the ABC for decades. It is this political bias that is at the root of this issue, including calls made to the ABC by Malcolm Turnbull to express concern about factual errors resulting in politically unbalanced reporting. It is widely accepted that both the ABC board and many of its leading reporters have not followed their respective legislated charters for many years in regards to impartiality of reporting.

Maybe it is time to have a royal commission into the ABC to find out how it came to this and to recommend changes that will in future restore the organisation to its proper purpose. Simply plastering over the current cracks will not address the structural changes that need to be made to restore the publics confidence in the organisation. The ABC board has been asleep at the wheel and needs to go.

Re: ABC becomes the story

tezza2844 — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:40:57 GMT

The reason it is NOT the story, is that it is not in the ABC,s interest ( or other medias interest ) to acknowledge there has been a culture of political bias in the ABC for decades. It is this political bias that is at the root of this issue, including calls made to the ABC by Malcolm Turnbull to express concern about factual errors resulting in politically unbalanced reporting. It is widely accepted that both the ABC board and many of its leading reporters have not followed their respective legislated charters for many years in regards to impartiality of reporting.

Maybe it is time to have a royal commission into the ABC to find out how it came to this and to recommend changes that will in future restore the organisation to its proper purpose. Simply plastering over the current cracks will not address the structural changes that need to be made to restore the publics confidence in the organisation. The ABC board has been asleep at the wheel and needs to go.

The Right claim the ABC is to far Left and the Left claim the ABC is to far Right. The Right’s idea for the ABC is to use the IPA template and Lefts idea is anybody’s guess. You only have to recall Liberal Senator’s Richard Alston’s notorious rant in 2003 about an ABC interview with a US “embedded” reporter in regard to the welcome Coalition forces would receive in the invasion of Iraq to get an idea of what the Government expects of the ABC. If you don’t recall The US (and Australian) Government was telling the troops and public that the coalition forces would receive a reception of roses and cheering, instead they received abuse, booing, rocks, night soil and any other rubbish the locals could throw at them.

Both Howard and Abbott both tried to re-shape the ABC board/management to suit their own political beliefs as required by the IPA .

Re: ABC becomes the story

marwi_3023 — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 11:09:22 GMT

Unite the right with beans in sauce

Re: ABC becomes the story

johcaschro — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 11:49:45 GMT

"The reason it is NOT the story, is that it is not in the ABC,s interest ( or other medias interest ) to acknowledge there has been a culture of political bias in the ABC for decades. It is this political bias that is at the root of this issue, including calls made to the ABC by Malcolm Turnbull to express concern about factual errors resulting in politically unbalanced reporting. It is widely accepted that both the ABC board and many of its leading reporters have not followed their respective legislated charters for many years in regards to impartiality of reporting."

Do you have any way of substantiating what you wrote? (a link to the evidence will suffice) 'cos otherwise I can say "It just aint so" with just as much authority (and credibility, come to that).

It's more likely that the political bias has come from the govt who appointed the ABC board members, as evidenced by Justin Milne's recent leaning on Michelle Guthrie to sack an ABC reporter because she has fallen out of favour with said govt.

It is widely accepted now, that that the ABC board has not followed its charter because its members are govt-appointed stooges.

It's not the fault of the ABC per se, but it's the fault of the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison government.

Re: ABC becomes the story

johcaschro — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 12:00:04 GMT

Here's bias for you, Chameleon:

"Former ABC boss Michelle Guthrie warned the public broadcaster's board that firing her would be retribution for raising explosive allegations of misconduct and political interference by chairman Justin Milne.

Fresh details from a controversial 11-page dossier also show the new acting ABC chairwoman Kirstin Ferguson knew months ago of Ms Guthrie’s “huge frustration” with Mr Milne’s interventions in editorial matters.

In the document - which Ms Guthrie prepared and distributed to the seven-member board in a last-ditch bid to keep her job - the former ABC boss repeatedly told directors the ABC could not be seen to bow to political pressure from the Coalition government."

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dear-directors-explosive-dossier-reveals-bitter-war-between-michelle-guthrie-and-abc-board-20180928-p506p7.html

Re: ABC becomes the story

chameleon54 — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 14:17:33 GMT

@johcaschro wrote:
"The reason it is NOT the story, is that it is not in the ABC,s interest ( or other medias interest ) to acknowledge there has been a culture of political bias in the ABC for decades. It is this political bias that is at the root of this issue, including calls made to the ABC by Malcolm Turnbull to express concern about factual errors resulting in politically unbalanced reporting. It is widely accepted that both the ABC board and many of its leading reporters have not followed their respective legislated charters for many years in regards to impartiality of reporting."

Do you have any way of substantiating what you wrote? (a link to the evidence will suffice) 'cos otherwise I can say "It just aint so" with just as much authority (and credibility, come to that).

It's more likely that the political bias has come from the govt who appointed the ABC board members, as evidenced by Justin Milne's recent leaning on Michelle Guthrie to sack an ABC reporter because she has fallen out of favour with said govt.

It is widely accepted now, that that the ABC board has not followed its charter because its members are govt-appointed stooges.

It's not the fault of the ABC per se, but it's the fault of the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison government.

My lifes too short to spend hours chasing up links for you, but here is one credible source I found in two minutes

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1415/ABCoverview

This little nugget is right in the first few paragraphs of this lengthy document

The ABC has regularly been the subject of criticism from a number of quarters; there have been frequent allegations of bias in reporting, inappropriate programming, political appointments to the ABC Board and mismanagement of funds. Recently the ABC has been accused also of neglecting its Charter obligations by withdrawing local services and outsourcing production.

Re: ABC becomes the story

marwi_3023 — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 18:58:37 GMT

Righties are only on Earth so when things get really bad the good and decent folk will have something to eat