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Senate Inquiry Into Media in Australia

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Senate Inquiry Into Media in Australia Senate Inquiry into Media in Australia December 2020 Thank you for this opportunity to make a submission to the Media Diversity in Australia Inquiry. I’m a journalist with an MA in International Journalism from City, University of London, and then worked for AAP as a reporter, sub, copy taster and feature writer for nearly 15 years. Since then I’ve been a freelance writer. I am happy for this submission and my name to be published together, but please do not publish my address or phone number. Terms of Reference a. The current state of public interest journalism in Australia and any barriers to Australian voters’ ability to access reliable, accurate and independent news The most significant source of public interest journalism in Australia until recently was the ABC. Its public ownership is important and helped protect its independence, guaranteeing Australian voters access to reliable, accurate and independent news. In this section I will outline how this independence has been seriously undermined in recent years - so that I would now regard a number of other outlets more reliable. I then explain why I think it is important to remove government interference from the ABC and how we can insulate our national broadcaster from it. The ABC’s role as a public interest broadcaster Under the Australian Broadcasting Corporation 1983, the ABC has a clearly enunciated public interest role. In Part II, 6. (1), it is required: “to provide within Australia innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard … (i) broadcasting programs that contribute to a sense of national identity and inform and entertain, and reflect the cultural diversity of, the Australian community; and (ii) broadcasting programs of an educational nature; (b) to transmit to countries outside Australia broadcasting programs of news, current affairs, entertainment and cultural enrichment that will: (i) encourage awareness of Australia and an international understanding of Australian attitudes on world affairs; and 1 (ii) enable Australian citizens living or travelling outside Australia to obtain information about Australian affairs and Australian attitudes on world affairs; … This extensive role, similar to that of the UK’s BBC, entails informing the public, enabling it to participate in democratic institutions in Australia in a meaningful way. The ABC therefore has a responsibility to represent and engage all sectors of Australian society – including women, First Nations people, and those with disabilities – which the commercial sector might not prioritise. Furthermore, the duty of the ABC board to protect the independence of the broadcaster is laid out in its charter. Part III, 8. (1) of the act states that it is the board’s responsibility: (b)to maintain the independence and integrity of the Corporation; (and) (c) to ensure that the gathering and presentation by the Corporation of news and information is accurate and impartial according to the recognized standards of objective journalism … Political interference at the ABC However, over many years now, the ABC’s role has been diminished by federal government interference in the national broadcaster, exerted via the board and through funding cuts. The Guardian online reported in May that cuts carried out since the federal Coalition came to power in 2014 totalled $738 million. On top of that, emergency broadcasting costs during last summer’s bushfires meant the ABC was forced to spend an extra $3 million, added to $84 million for an indexation pause imposed by then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2018. (See https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/may/04/abc-loses-793m-funding-since- 2014-when-coalition-made-its-first-cuts-report) During the past seven years, these cuts have led to the loss of a number of major Australian public interest broadcasting services - as detailed by Alexandra Wake, Program Manager, Journalism, RMIT University and Phd student Michael Ward at Sydney University in The Conversation in June - including: Lateline and state-based 7.30 axed The World Today and ABC PM radio current affairs programming halved the closure or reduction of international news bureaus cuts since 2014 to Radio National (for example, Sunday Nights) cuts to international broadcasting/media services such as the Australia Network, which was cancelled in 2013 2 the end of short wave radio services to the Northern Territory (See https://theconversation.com/latest-84-million-cuts-rip-the-heart-out-of-the-abc-and- our-democracy-141355). In addition to this, current ABC Managing Director David Anderson announced in June that the latest cuts would result in the loss of 250 more jobs and programming cuts, including the axing of its flagship 7.45am radio news bulletin. (See https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-24/abc-announces-cuts-to-programming-and- jobs-funding/12384972). A generous reading of those cuts would be that consecutive governments have failed to understand the importance of the broadcaster in providing news, entertainment (including locally produced content) and emergency coverage to Australians across the country as well as an international audience. However, a more sinister interpretation is more likely closer to the truth. One of the most serious incidents of interference involved Mr Turnbull and his criticism of former ABC Economics correspondent Emma Alberici. The then prime minister intervened after a report by Ms Alberici in 2018 that questioned the benefits of the government’s corporate tax policy. Mr Turnbull later revealed he had complained to an old friend and business associate, Justin Milne, who also happened to be the ABC’s then chairman, about the ABC coverage. Mr Turnbull told journalists: "My concern has been purely about the accuracy and impartiality of news and current affairs reporting on the ABC. "That is the critical thing and I do believe it has deteriorated over recent years which is regrettable. "Everybody is entitled to express their views about the ABC, and ministers and prime ministers do and have done always. "It's important that the ABC engages with government. But I want to be very clear that the ABC is independent, the chairman and the board are independent of the government." Mr Turnbull added: "The bottom line is I've never called for anyone to be fired; my concern had been the accuracy and impartiality of reporting. 3 "The chairman of the ABC and managing director of the ABC and director of news at the ABC are talking to politicians and other members of the public presumably all the time - just as editors in the private sector are." (See https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/standards-have-deteriorated- malcolm-turnbull-weighs-in-on-abc-accusation-20180927-p5068h.html). Mr Milne, who was appointed to his position by Mr Turnbull, then went on to complain to then ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie about Ms Alberici and ABC Political Editor Andrew Probyn, saying they should be removed because their reporting had angered the government and that keeping them on staff would hamper efforts to increase the ABC's government funding. The Sydney Morning Herald reported in September 2018 that Mr Milne had said in an email to Ms Guthrie at the time that: “They [the government] hate her (Alberici).” “We are tarred with her brush. I think it’s simple. Get rid of her." This incident, which led to Ms Alberici leaving the ABC, along with Mr Milne and Ms Guthrie, was a clear example of political interference at the ABC by a prime minister who did not approve of reporting by an expert economics correspondent at the peak of her career. Her loss to the ABC is multi-dimensional: firstly, because of her economic expertise, depth of experience and fearless attitude, which is so important for a journalist; secondly because of its impact on other ABC journalists, many of whom will now self-censor to avoid a similar fate or are likely to have taken redundancies because of low morale at the broadcaster; thirdly because younger, less experienced journalists will miss out on training and/or mentoring from Alberici and her peers; and finally because senior staff may be less likely to hire journalists who are seen to be in Ms Alberici’s mould. Another recent intervention that will have a chilling effect on the ABC’s independence and reliability as a public interest broadcaster, is the request by federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher for ABC chair Ita Buttrose to explain how a recent Four Corners episode revealing alleged affairs between ministers and staffers was in the public interest. (See https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-government-asks-abc-to-please- explain-controversial-four-corners-episode-20201201-p56jg2.html). 4 Combined with job cuts (which translate to a loss of reporters to cover stories in a range of locations including courts, parliamentary inquiries, business meetings, health summits and other events), these incidents have undermined the ability of the ABC to report on issues that enable the public to make informed decisions in all aspects of their lives – including when they vote. The government also exerts control of the ABC via the prime minister’s selection of the ABC chair. Although a panel puts together a short list of candidates who have been matched to selection criteria for the job, the Coalition government ignored those recommendations when appointing the current chair, Ita Buttrose – as it has done in the past. (See https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jan/09/two-media-executives-and-lawyer- passed-over-for-ita-buttrose-as-abc-chair-foi-confirms How to insulate the ABC from political interference It is therefore urgent and important that we insulate the ABC from political interference. All control of the ABC should be totally removed from government hands. No matter what a prime minister’s expertise, previous career, or what other prime ministers have done in the past, they and other politicians should not be allowed to comment on the accuracy or impartiality of reporting by the ABC – because its independence is impinged on whenever they do.
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