UpdateDecember 2015 Vol 23, No. 3 Thrice Yearly Newsletter music presenter at the ABC, applied and 2015 Broadcasting Excellence Award won the job. There followed a sparkling, 34 year career at the ABC. The first regular Marian Arnold – Classic FM presenter of weekday morning music and then on to Listener Requests, which had languished before her magic touch. She built this into a top rating program and a must for music lovers. Marian presented and produced the program, answered the calls and made the tea, and all with seemingly the greatest of ease. She brought perception and warmth to her presentations of live broadcasts and mischief and fun to her contributions to Classic FM Top 100 events. continued on page 4. Inside Update From the President 2 2015 Broadcasting Excellence Ed Davis, Marian Arnold and Mal Hewitt on Award Night in Ultimo. Award - Marian’s Response 4 It’s time for an ABC Friends Political Party 5 Why so many ABC voices echo similar perspectives 6 Tribute to Marian: Alan Sunderland responds to The Australian 7 Letter to the Editor - The Australian 8 Murdoch’s Media Tax 8 A Living Treasure Zaky Mallah furore and boycott was based on a ‘big lie’ 9 Support the rebuilding of your ABC 10 migrated to Australia with her family at Encouraging start for Friends’ Ed Davis age 7, and grew up in Orange, New South National Campaign 11 NSW Vice President Wales. She was born with a love for music. ABC spent nearly $50m on Listening and experimenting were threads redundancy payouts after Coalition in her early years. After completing a BA at budget cuts hit 12 t is impossible to think of any other the University of Sydney, she taught music What’s in, what’s out for the ABC in 2015 13 radio presenter who has won so much at Ascham High School for two years Maintaining the Rage affection and love. For years, the ABC before seeking to make music her career. I - Vale Walter Bass 14 has been flooded with cards, letters, Her engagement with music has included From the National Spokesperson 15 emails and phone calls to Marian, with singing, playing the violin and Middle Eastern Dancing. Letter to the Editor from listeners expressing their appreciation ABC Friends 15 of her music but above all for her After singing with the Sydney Philharmonia New ABC Board Members 15 engagement with each on a personal Choir, then heading off to England for State News 16 level. Marian built and maintained deeply further voice training, she discovered in NSW Branch News 21 satisfying relationships with her audience. her late twenties that her voice would not Letter to the Editor Marian is of course a Living Treasure. sustain a singing career. Serendipity in - Illawarra Mercury 22 Born in sea-side Brighton in England, she the saddle, she saw an ad for a classical Update From the Editor Publication Information (and NSW President) Update is published three times a year by Friends of the ABC (NSW) Inc PO Box 1391 NORTH SYDNEY 2059. elcome to the first fully national the Australian population trust the ABC edition of Update, in which and believe that it is an essential part of our Print Post approved: PP245059/00002. you will find content from all national landscape. Give it the funds so it Extracts from newspapers and other W states and the ACT. A national Update can do its job! publications appearing in Update do not necessarily reflect the views of the is only one aspect of an historically members of ABC Friends. unprecedented level of co-operation ANOTHER TRIENNIAL BUDGET Update is distributed to all members of between the State Branches, as they The ABC is currently preparing its ABC Friends as part of the membership work together in a national campaign submissions and requests to the fee. Update is also supplied to in defence of the ABC in the leadup to journalists, politicians and libraries Government for the next triennium, and across Australia. the 2016 Federal Election. Following the the Turnbull government budget, handed National Conference of ABC Friends in Update is edited and produced in down in May 2016, will be critical to the Sydney and contributions are welcome Adelaide in July, state presidents now future of the ABC. We have a new minister from state and regional branches. Email engage in a fortnightly telephone hookup; in Mitch Fifield – it is hoped that Friends your contribution (in Microsoft Word) to there is a sharing of initiatives, resources representatives will meet with the minister [email protected] or post to above and ideas; states are moving towards a address. in the very near future, but we must always national membership fee structure; state Material may be quoted or reproduced remember that Prime Minister Turnbull, branches are supporting the national from Update provided the source is as minister responsible for the ABC under acknowledged and reproduction is sent office in Melbourne; we have a highly Tony Abbott, glibly stated that $200 to the Editor at the above email or postal respected National Spokesperson in the million in cuts to the ABC could easily be address. former Senator Margaret Reynolds from absorbed by “back office efficiencies,” Tasmania, ably backed up by Ranald Would you like to receive without affecting programming. He even Macdonald from Victoria, whose press Update newsletter repeated it on a Q&A program with a releases and letters to the media are electronically? straight face! proving a very effective outreach to the Save the planet’s trees and ABC Friends’ Australian community. For administrative FAREWELL WALTER BASS printing and postage costs and read and organizational reasons, State Update on your tablet or computer. When I was privileged last week to speak at Update is published, you will receive an Branches will always be essential to the the funeral of Walter Bass – Bassie to all email with a link to the latest issue (each operation of Friends, but we now have magazine is between 1 – 2 MB). who knew him. If anybody can claim to a true national voice in supporting our have founded Friends of the ABC, it was You can try this now by going to national voice, the ABC. www.fabcnsw.org.au and clicking on Bassie. Friends was launched at a public “Newsletter”. If you prefer this delivery meeting at Anzac House, Sydney, in 1978, THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN option for future Updates please contact and Bassie became its first president, your local state branch (see back page). Half-page ads in The Age and Sydney a position he held for the next 20 years, Who to write… Morning Herald were the first shots fired and from which he fought tirelessly and in a campaign which will run to the next with great passion and determination for Anyone seeking basic information about his beloved ABC. Further tribute is paid writing to persons of influence might find election – those ads resulted in new it helpful to go to www.fabcnsw.org.au members for Friends and substantial in this Update, but we extend to his wife where there are some menu items donations to the Fighting Fund, which Corin, sons Jeremy, Martin and Christian, under “Be Active” leading to pages of is approaching $150,000. Ranald and other family members our deepest information: Who can I write to? What sympathy in this time of great sadness can I say? Macdonald, Convenor of the Friends Action Committee, reports to us in this and celebration of a great life well lived. Update Editor - Mal Hewitt Update, but 2016 will see an increase We remember, too, the life and enormous contribution of another great fighter for PO Box 1391 North Sydney 2059 in awareness raising of the importance [email protected] of the ABC to all Australians, as well the ABC and many, many other causes of as reminding us of what has been lost social justice, Sister Veronica Brady, who Assistant Editor – Chris Cartledge already as a result of the savage cuts recently passed away in Western Australia. [email protected] in the first two years of the Abbott Cartoonist - Phil Somerville government. Our campaign will also MEDIA REPORT AXED Editorial Cartoonist for aim to counter the relentless stream of In another of those utterly The Sun-Herald (Sydney) misinformation and bias emanating from incomprehensible decisions by the [email protected] the Murdoch press as they prosecute management of Radio National, Richard Layout Artist - Paul Martens their campaign against publicly funded Aedy’s revealing, insightful and informative [email protected] broadcasting. The message to politicians Media Report has been axed. At a time must be clear and unequivocal – 85% of when all media should be under far closer Page 2 scrutiny in order to detect and expose will be relieved that Richard Finlayson, the history of our national broadcaster as commercial and political influence and ABC Director of Television, has promised it struggles to maintain essential services interference, and all manner of bias, to lift Australian content in prime time despite the loss of 400 staff so far, and the ABC closes down a program which to 60%, from an all-time low of 42%. another 100 still to go. This Update for many was compulsory listening. Comparisons are interesting – the BBC contains news and pictures of the many No intelligent rationale for the decision has 84% local content, CBC (Canada) activities across the country by our has been offered, and we have the 73%, TVNZ 43%. Other parts of the plan members which have been a powerful usual assurances from management include: “a culture of high performance expression of the community’s outrage – “the issues will be taken up in other and continuous improvement;” a at the government’s treatment of the programs.” We can be sure, though, restructure of commissioning; a return to ABC.