According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald (18 May 2007) the ABC has axed its Talking Books because they were unprofitable.  The Herald quotes the Director of ABC Commercial, Lynley Marshall, as saying in a prepared statement: “Losses incurred from such enterprises directly impact on the ABC’s ability to produce programs for ABC radio, television and online”.

This news has angered RPH Australia, which represents people with a print handicap.  The Chairman of RPH Australia, Mr Peter Luckett, told the Herald:

More than 17 per cent of Australians have a print disability, either because they are are blind or visually impaired or because they are illiterate,

These people rely really heavily on ABC Audio for recreational reading. Commercially available audio books are one of the only ways they can access books in an accessible form.

I find it hard to believe that ABC management are saying this is not a viable business. Print disability is a growing disability.

I also find this hard to believe.  The ABC Annual Report for 2005-6 shows that ABC Enterprises (now renamed ABC Commercial) made a profit of $19 million for the twelve months ended June 2006.  Just how much did ABC Audio loose, and how does this “loss” compare to the overall profit of ABC Commercial?

It seems that the ABC now operates on a double standard. The ABC’s recently revised Editorial Policies lay down the following standards for material produced by ABC News and Current Affairs.  Commercial considerations are explicitly excluded.

Be impartial. Editorial judgements are based on news values, not for example on political, commercial or sectional interests or personal views.

However the situation is reversed in the case of ABC Commercial.  There is no public interest test, no accessibility test, no  news value test or fairness test.  Profitability overrides all. In a recent letter to staff Acting Managing Director Murray Green put it this way:

ABC Enterprises is quite different in its means of operation from the publicly funded content in the rest of the ABC. For an Enterprises project to be viable there has to be reasonable certainty that it is commercially profitable…ABC journalism and other content on radio, television and online is evaluated quite differently…  (Full text of the letter at http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/ep22mg.pdf )

Director of ABC Commercial, Lynley Marshall, has now taken this a step futher.  It seems that not only must ABC Commercial, as a whole, be profitiable, but each individual project, and each individual department within ABC Commercial, must also be profitable.

While ABC Commercial helps finance other parts of the ABC, and while the ABC clearly needs all the funds it can get, there is a concern that the tail will start to wag the dog. There is a real danger that the commercial culture of ABC Commercial will influence what should be the public service culture of the rest of the ABC.

It seems that the ABC required Chris Masters to apply one set of values when making a program on Alan Jones for Four Corners, and quite different set of values when writing a book on Alan Jones for ABC Commecial.