Looks like the ABC is under direct threat again. Conspiracy theorists might think the opportunity was born of collusion between government and Murdoch.
OT just a little, the Bureau of Meteorology was hobbled the same way to make commercial opportunities, hence Weatherzone that while providing some value adds and pretty formatting essentially repackages BOM products. For some reason government thinks this is somehow comparable to the USA where the National Weather Service ‘competes’ with the Weather Channel and Accuweather, and most TV stations in major cities have their own doppler radars and staff meteorologists.
The ABC has been attacked by pollies of all shades for decades and this is nothing new. There is no need to suppose a right-wing conspiracy, it is just governments don’t like news media that they cannot control. The part that I find quite uplifting is that over the years various CEOs have been appointed by various governments but they have all defended the independence and funding of the ABC - not necessarily with success.
Many of the attacks recently have been along the lines that the ABC is too far to the left. Another explanation for this disparity is that Oz politics has been drifting right and the ABC held firm.
Regardless of their position on the spectrum you only have to look around the world of deliberate mischief, lies and incompetence that passes for news in many places to realise what a gem we have. Any debate on the question of bias is likely to reveal more about the debaters than the ABC but I think all Australians should stand up for their independence and professionalism.
If you are annoying pollies from all sides you must be doing something right.
I don’t think I mentioned any right wing anything, just an opportunity created by ‘government and Murdoch’. However since you mentioned it without prompting it must have come to your mind.
The ABC is most often and most fiercely threatened by the right. Its budget has been savaged by the Abbott and Turnbull governments, they sought to give responsibility for representing Australia’s news interests overseas to Murdoch (a foreigner!), and the Abbott government decided on the basis of an innocent man appearing on an ABC television program that it should boycott the ABC!
The left has not been nearly as savage in its complaints about the ABC, and certainly has never suggested selling Auntie off - that’s a conservative dream!
