‘LISTEN TO THEM. WATCH THEM. YOU CAN TELL THEY’RE PLAYERS IN THE GAME.’
During and after last month’s federal leadership spill, a number of commentators claimed former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had been brought down by meddling journalists.
During and after last month’s federal leadership spill, a number of commentators claimed former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had been brought down by meddling journalists.
This mistaken view was driven by the ex-PM himself. “There was a determined insurgency from a number of people, both in the party room and backed by voices, powerful voices in the media, really to, if not bring down the government, certainly to bring down my Prime Ministership,” an angry Turnbull said.
The ABC was especially receptive to Turnbull's wild notion.
“Parts of the News Corp stable [have] been running a campaign against Mr Turnbull,” the ABC’s Laura Tingle alleged.
And long-time ABC staffer Chris Uhlmann, now working for Nine, joined in: “They are players in the game. Listen to them, watch them. You can tell that they’re players in the game, you can tell what it is that they’re trying to do.”
He doesn’t sound paranoid at all.
Over time, the concept of a conspiracy against the nation’s leader took a powerful hold on the ABC’s collective mind. Last week the ABC news led with an item basically stating outright that Turnbull’s demise followed intervention by journalists and media proprietors.
But now the ABC has endured a leadership coup of its own, with managing director Michelle Guthrie being fired just two years into her anticipated five-year tenure.
Were various ABC journalists part of a push to undermine Guthrie? Certainly several staffers expressed deep satisfaction following yesterday’s developments.
“Excellent decision,” wrote the ABC’s Sally Neighbour on Twitter.
Excellent decision https://t.co/Xzo14iRDcM
— Sally Neighbour (@neighbour_s) September 24, 2018
And the billion-dollar broadcaster’s Melbourne radio presenter Jon Faine – one of those “powerful voices in the media” – went even further.
"Staff morale has never been so low," Faine said during his morning program. "[She was] given the benefit of the doubt because she was a woman. She was smart and we were excited. But she was only interested in a few parts of the organisation.
"She wouldn't advocate for us, which is an astonishing fail. She's been all but invisible. Every time you tried to get something from her, it was all jargon."
It could well be, as some might put it, that “parts of the ABC stable have been running a campaign against Ms Guthrie”. And as others could note: “You can tell that they’re players in the game. You can tell what it is that they’re trying to do.”
We look forward to future Four Corners coverage of any ABC conspiracy against the ABC’s managing director.
(This morning’s Daily Telegraph editorial.)
ABC news presenters openly rejoiced yesterday at the sacking of Michelle Guthrie, the national broadcaster’s first female managing director, after staff agitated against the “invisible” boss for at least two years.
A “devastated” Ms Guthrie said she was now considering legal action after being kicked out of her $900,000-a-year job just halfway through her five-year contract with Aunty.
Despite offering to make changes to her management style to keep her job, the 53-year-old was handed a letter yesterday morning informing her of her sacking.
High-profile on-air stars at the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster have been undermining and agitating against the former News Corp lawyer and Google executive from the moment she walked through the doors at Ultimo.
Diversity wasn’t welcome.
UPDATE II:
Paul Barry, host of the ABC’s Media Watch, has claimed the broadcaster’s political editor Andrew Probyn “all but outed” Malcolm Turnbull as the source for an ABC report claiming Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Stokes conspired in the Liberal leadership spill, adding that the former Prime Minister had a “major role” in losing his own job.
In Media Watch tonight Barry said that while reports of News Corp and Seven West Media bosses conspiring to run a media campaign to oust Mr Turnbull were plausible, they ultimately rested on a “second-hand at best” account of a purported private conversation between Mr Murdoch and Mr Stokes.
On whether there was concrete evidence of such a plan, Barry said: “Well, it does all rest on that private conversation between Murdoch and Stokes. So, who is telling us what was said? Well, it’s certainly not Murdoch. And Stokes says it’s not him. So, who could it be? Without actually naming his source, Probyn all but outed our former PM.
“The informant was obviously not in the room,” Barry said.
He was in New York.