Both fishy and foul 24 October 2003

Attention News Editor/ Chief of Staff


Both fishy and foul

The government has quietly announced the appointment of Christopher Pearson to the board of the Special Broadcasting Service. Previously Mr Pearson had been considered a contender for a vacancy on the ABC Board.

Mr Pearson is a conservative commentator, and a former speech writer for the Prime Minister.

"This is another step in the government's determined and relentless attack on the independence of Australia's public broadcasters" said Friends of the ABC spokesperson, Darce Cassidy.

"Being a political conservative and a former speech writer for the Prime Minister does not in itself disqualify Mr Pearson. Our concern is with the pattern of appointments to the ABC and the SBS.. As each vacancy occurs the government fills it with yet another hard liner. The public broadcasters are rightly required to be balanced in their reporting and commentary. If the SBS or the ABC chose a panel of commentators the way the government appoints their boards, they would be quickly found guilty of bias."

"There is a simple way to restore credibility to the appointment process. A conservative government in the U.K. introduced an open, transparent and merit based system of appointment to public bodies. Our own government uses a similar system to make appointments to its Fisheries Research Development Corporation. Why can't it use such a system with the SBS and t he ABC?"

"Its failure to do so is both fishy and foul."


Further comment/information Darce Cassidy 0412 685 178 (mobile)