The Australian is carrying a report of a speech by Mark Scott, Managing Director of the ABC, who has declared that those (private) media-organised events, such as the ones at Rooty Hills and the Broncos Club in Queensland, must not be allowed to occur again.
“The events, the venues, the panels, the hosts should be set by a totally independent panel and commonly understood, a year before the date of the election,” Mr Scott told the festival’s New News 2010 Conference.
“In discussion with the campaign directors, it was clear to me that they wanted the reach of free-to-air television and were happy to use ABC talent to host,” he said.
“But finally, there was no way either was going to upset a monopoly Murdoch newspaper in the pivotal swing state three days before polling day.
“The thought of what The Courier-Mail would do to the candidate who didn’t show to their sponsored event was chilling to contemplate.”
But would it not be a bit chilling to contemplate what the ABC would do in the event of one of the leaders failing to show up at one of its “premium” events?
And is it not true that virtually every day of the campaign, John Faine on ABC 774 (Melbourne local radio) made a point of telling us that Tony Abbott was refusing to come into the station to be interviewed by Faine? Is this somehow acceptable for the ABC but not other media outlets?
And which media outlet kept an empty chair that was to be occupied by Mark Arbib on the set of the Q & A program? Would that be the ABC? Trying to make a point?
I was interested to read the comments of one of the participants of the Adelaide Q & A program in which Julia Gillard appeared. He was required to submit his questions and was then only allowed to ask the question that was least critical of the performance of the Rudd/Gillard government. He queried this direction but was told it was that or nothing. The whole program sounds like a bit of set-up job to me.
The truth is that it was absolutely dreadful coverage of the campaign by the ABC, including the cack-handed way it handled the ‘assasination’ of Kevin Rudd – foreshadowing that a spill was on (good scoop) and then resuming normal programming on the mating habits of endangered beavers in Sussex. And ABC 24 has turned out to be amateurish, opinionated and boring. And as for allowing ABC journalists to express overtly political opinions on The Drum website – the mind truly boggles.
Modern Australians just can’t emotionally cope with the ad hoc can they? Everything has to be regulated, even Town Hall-style gab-fests featuring politicians.
C.L.
3 Sep 10 at 1:57 pm
And which media outlet kept an empty chair that was to be occupied by Mark Arbib on the set of the Q & A program? Would that be the ABC? Trying to make a point?
So a politician that refuses to participate in an ABC show is chastised for not showing up. Turnbull’s satire of his absence was funny though.
daddy dave
3 Sep 10 at 6:20 pm
I was interested to read the comments of one of the participants of the Adelaide Q & A program in which Julia Gillard appeared. He was required to submit his questions and was then only allowed to ask the question that was least critical of the performance of the Rudd/Gillard government.
Gillard was praised for her performance on Q and A that night. Now we learn that the ABC filtered questions so she only got softballs. No wonder she did well.
It might have been a very different event if the questions hadn’t been vetted.
daddy dave
3 Sep 10 at 6:21 pm
What an incredible thing to learn. So Fat Tony Jones edits the questions to politically bias the program.
Simply amazing.
JC
3 Sep 10 at 6:24 pm
C.L. – A good way of putting it. “Unregulated” has become a word meaning evil, dangerous…
ken n
3 Sep 10 at 6:28 pm
Let this be a warning to never again defy our “independent” Fabian Marxist indoctrinators.
Damian
3 Sep 10 at 7:14 pm
‘And ABC 24 has turned out to be amateurish, opinionated and boring.’
Well, bugger me.
Dandy Warhol
3 Sep 10 at 8:06 pm