Letter - Editorial decisons must lie with the ABC, not the government
Letter to the Australian 12 May 2005----- Leave it to Aunty. The ABC, not the government, must decide which national events should be covered by the national broadcaster-----by Darce Cassidy
The Editor
Media Section
The Australian
12 May 2005
An item in Amanda Meade’s Diary column (Media, April 21) rightfully altered the public to the significance of the Government6 having provided one-off funds for the ABC to broadcast Anzac Day services: the risk of tied funding compromising the national broadcaster’s independence.
The response from Michael Ward, head of ABC television policy and administration (The Weekend Australian, April 23-24) does not satisfactorily address the important issue Meade’s report raises.
Dressed with a touch of rhetoric about the significance of Anzac Day, Ward reassures the public that the funds came with guaranteed ABC editorial independence on the perspective and focus.
But editorial independence begins at the point of deciding what will and what will not be broadcast. The issue is not whether Anzac Day activities are important to Australian life and should be broadcast by the ABC. It is that the national broadcaster should be funded by the Government to a level that enables it to fulfil its charter obligations and to broadcast all matters of national signfificance.
Australians don’t want their public broadcaster to become a propaganda tool. We move into dangerous territory when any government, through the granting and withholding of funds, can determine what is – and what is not- in the public interest for the ABC to broadcast.
Judith Rodriguez AM
President
Friends of the ABC (Victoria)
