ABC presenters back report calling for Aunty to get more cash
At a time when Australians are losing jobs and tightening their belts during the biggest financial crisis since the great depression ABC presenters are bleating about budget cuts.
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At a time when Australians are losing jobs and tightening their belts during the biggest financial crisis since the great depression ABC presenters are bleating about budget cuts.
A report by activist group Get Up and think tank PerCapita yesterday said the ABC had lost $783 million in funding to its annual billion dollar plus budget since the coalition came to power in 2014 and called for a $100 million cash injection.
That was jumped on by ABC journalists including Media Watch presenter Paul Barry, journalist Ellen Fanning and presenter Adam Spencer who tweeted: “My bias on this subject is, I am sure, self-evident. But this is a national f***ing disgrace.”
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Officially the ABC declined to comment on the report and pointed to comments made on “the savings challenge the ABC is faced with” by managing director David Anderson at a senate estimates hearing last month.
“To summarise the ABC will have to absorb cumulative budget cuts that amount to $105.9 million per annum by the time we reach the 2022 financial year,” he said. “This is an extraordinary strain on our ability to meet community expectations.”
Evan Mullholland, communications director at free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, said it was extraordinary for ABC staffers to complain about cuts during the coronavirus crisis.
“This is such an ABC bubble issue,” he said. “The ABC has been shielded from what private media are going through, which have been shedding cash and jobs at great pace.
“Yet the ABC, funded with taxpayer dollars to the tune of $1.1 billion per year has the gall to complain about not receiving even more money.
“Those suffering job losses and having their hours cut would be rightly appalled at the selfish grandstanding on display by ABC staffers who have been unaffected by the lockdown.”
He said a poll released by the IPA recently found that “only 32 per cent of Australians believe the ABC represents the views of ordinary Australians, yet 100 per cent of Australians are forced to fund it."
ABC journalist Quentin Dempster joined those within the ABC calling for it to be protected. “We need a strong and independent public broadcaster to hold authority to account without fear or favour,” he said.
“As we emerge from one of the worst pandemics in 100 years, we must decide what kind of society we want to rebuild.”
The Get Up report said the ABC had lost nearly 1000 jobs since 2014, with cuts to state-based versions of certain programs and the axing of entire shows.
GetUp called on the government to pump $100 million into the broadcaster. “Every funding cut must be reversed to keep us safe and keep our democracy thriving,” national director Paul Oosting said.
It came as a separate report released on Friday showed the majority of Australians would be willing to pay more tax to bolster news outlets.
The Essential Media report commissioned by the Public Interest Journalism Initiative found 53 per cent of Australians would support a $6 per year tax to fund public interest journalism.
Originally published as ABC presenters back report calling for Aunty to get more cash
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