Bill Shorten will NEVER be Prime Minister 9 hrs · Mark Scott should be given his marching orders, as should the board. #auspol #BSWNBPM #theirABC -COMMUNICATIONS Minister Malcolm Turnbull wants ABC managing director Mark Scott stripped of his role as editorial director and has outlined more than $300 million in cuts to the nation’s two public broadcasters. It is expected that at least 400 jobs will be lost at the ABC, mainly from “operational efficiencies” to be determined by its management and board. In total, the cuts represented $254m in savings over five years at the ABC and $53.7m at SBS over the same timeframe. Mr Turnbull also used the long-awaited announcement to urge ABC board members to take responsibility for objectivity and editorial balance and, if they felt incapable of doing so, to resign. The move comes as former board directors criticised the ABC for breaking its charter obligations by centralising services in Sydney and Melbourne to the detriment of other cities and regional centres. Mr Turnbull said he planned to write to the board shortly, under section 8 of its act, and advise it to separate the position of managing director from the editor-in-chief’s role. It would be the first time this has happened in the ABC’s 85-year history. The minister said keeping the joint role of editor-in-chief and managing director created the impression that the “managing director is directly in charge of ABC News and Current Affairs, which he is not, and given the wide range of his responsibilities, could not be”. “The board should expect the head of news and current affairs, like the CFO, to report directly to the board as well as to the managing director,” he said. The board is obligated to consider but may ignore Mr Turnbull’s request. Yesterday, Mr Turnbull he reminded directors it was their responsibility, not his, to ensure there was no ideological bias in ABC content. This followed a high volume of complaints regarding bias flooding his office. “I have on occasions heard directors say they do not want to get involved,” Mr Turnbull said. “Well if they do not want to get involved they should resign. The board of each broadcaster has that responsibility and must discharge it, and be seen diligently to discharge it.” The cuts equate to 4.6 per cent over the next five years for the ABC and 3.7 per cent for SBS. On Monday, Mr Scott is likely to announce Friday’s state-based 7.30 will be axed, Lateline will be cut back, South Australia television production will be shut down, ABC Radio will lose $6m and foreign bureaus in Tokyo, Bangkok, New Delhi and New Zealand will be scaled back. Former board directors John Bannon, Peter Hurley and Maurice Newman criticised the move by the ABC board and Mr Scott to reduce local content and centralise services in Sydney. Former South Australian Labor premier and ABC director John Bannon said the ABC was “very shortsighted”. “The ABC used to have a body called BATH: Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart,” Mr Bannon said. “Those states were always attempting to find ways to ensure they’re getting a proper share of the budget. “I was on the board when the national 7.30 Report replaced the state editions, which I thought was a major backward step in terms of current affairs, but the sweetener was the Friday program was a state-based show. For that to be one of the casualties is quite wrong.” His sentiment was echoed by Mr Hurley, board director from 2006 until 2011. “The ABC has had a long-held ambition to centralise TV production into Melbourne and Sydney and recent events give them the opportunity to achieve their long-held ambition and to blame someone else,” Mr Hurley said. “I think regional content is extremely important to the ABC in terms of carrying out its charter obligations.” The Abbott government is concerned Mr Scott will use the guise of budget cuts to make major programming changes that are part of his strategy to attract younger audiences. The median ABC viewer age is 61. “If the management of the ABC think they cannot find a 5 per cent saving through efficiencies, they are selling themselves short and letting down the people of whose resources and trust they are the custodians,’’ Mr Turnbull said. Christopher Warren, from the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, disagreed that the savings could be found entirely through efficiencies in backroom operations. He said the magnitude of the funding cuts meant there would be hundreds of jobs lost and programming would be effected. Mr Scott said the ABC’s budget had been hit by 8 per cent a year, not 4.6 per cent, when the May budget efficiency dividend and the Australia Network axing were included. “Over the next few days, the ABC executive will finalise its work on the steps needed to make the savings required,’’ Mr Scott said. “Ultimately, decisions regarding how the funding is allocated, the shape of the services the ABC delivers and how the ABC is managed and organised, rest with the independent ABC board.” SBS managing director Michael Ebeid said the cuts were sizeable and would be felt by the organisation. On the eve of the last election, Tony Abbott said there would not be any funding cuts to the ABC or SBS. Mr Turnbull called on the ABC to employ a chief financial officer who was “fearlessly independent” and ensured the management and board understood precisely how funds were spent. Mr Spigelman did not respond to questions from The Australian on whether he would implement Mr Turnbull’s recommendations to strip Mr Scott of one of his roles and ensure objectivity at the broadcaster. Mr Scott’s spokesman Nick Leys said: “The role of the managing director is a matter entirely for the ABC board and not for the minister.” Additional reporting: Meredith Booth- theaustralian.au/…/story-fna045gd-1227128908…
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 07:47:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015