This was published 9 years ago
Anger at ABC over local news cuts: 'These stories simply won't be told'
To its critics, the ABC is the preserve of inner-urban "elites".
But the reality is that no one loves our national broadcaster more than the eight million Australians who live outside our big cities. A 2014 Newspoll shows support for the ABC is highest in regional and rural areas, with almost nine in 10 residents rating it as a valuable service to their community.
End of the line ... The ACT's popular local 7.30 team prepares for its final broadcast in December 2014.Credit: Jamila Toderas
This is no surprise, given commercial media's drastic cost-cutting of late. Regional newspapers have sacked reporters in droves. Some TV newsrooms have shut down. Many radio stations aren't faring much better.
Now, more than ever, regional and rural Australians depend on the ABC.
Carol Duncan, Newcastle 1233's local afternoon presenter, on her last day. Duncan's program was replaced by a syndicated show from Sydney.Credit: Marina Neil
But there is growing concern within ABC ranks that local news and current affairs is being squeezed. Staff say a slew of changes last year, forced by the Abbott government's budget cuts, has made it harder to deliver the quality journalism their regional audiences expect.
These cuts include: eight state editions of flagship current affairs program 7.30; the Bush Telegraph radio show; the closure of five regional radio posts; radio news bulletins being halved; and Newcastle 1233 afternoon host Carol Duncan being bumped for James Valentine, whose show is piped in from Sydney.
The recent axing of Canberra's dedicated rural reporter has sparked fresh angst. It is one of 50 proposed redundancies, prompted by the July 1 launch of ABC's new Regional Division.
With 52 proposed new roles, there will be no net loss of jobs.
Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce has said Canberra is out of touch with the regional sector.Credit: Andrew Meares
Yet the Canberra announcement has become a flashpoint for simmering anxieties within the broadcaster.
To some, it's not enough that the ABC intends to replace rural reporter Michael Cavanagh with a "regional affairs reporter", based at Parliament House. (Cavanagh can apply for this new position.) When the decision was revealed, angry calls flooded in to 666 ABC.
Fiona Reynolds, ABC's director of Regional.
Fiona Reynolds, director of ABC's new Regional Division, says the change is for the benefit of regional audiences.
"This came from staff," she tells Fairfax Media. "They said, 'I can't get my hands on a regional perspective when a major event happens, because the teams [in Parliament House] are just so flat out covering the national perspective for all the different outlets.
"As [a former political correspondent] myself, I totally understand that. But there are a lot of things that happen where you want a regional voice; you want that regional perspective. I've had external stakeholders asking for it as well."
Reynolds is adamant this regional affairs reporter will use Parliament's non-sitting days to cover conferences and be "out in the field", as Cavanagh now is. She says the ad for the new job may not have made this clear, and has been amended to emphasise this.
But others are sceptical.
"When was the last time, realistically, a bureau-based reporter got out in the field when Parliament wasn't sitting?" asks an ABC source.
"Look, I can understand the thinking of this new position – but not at the expense of the old one."
One of Australia's most experienced rural journalists is Peter Lewis, a former ABC news and Landline reporter and winner of the 2014 Rabobank Star Prize for Rural Broadcasting. He is currently the vice-president of the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists.
"As someone who's been beating around the bush for the best part of three decades, it's disappointing to see cuts that will go to the heart of great storytelling in regional, rural and remote Australia," Lewis tells Fairfax Media.
Another source puts it bluntly. If Canberra loses a dedicated rural reporter – someone out on the road every day, chasing stories – that means less rural news. This isn't just a blow for residents. It's bad for Canberra's bureaucrats, so often accused of being ill-informed about non-urban Australia.
"You've got [agriculture minister] Barnaby Joyce saying that Canberra's out of touch with the rural sector, so what does the ABC do?" asks one employee. "They get rid of the position that explains rural issues to the very sector Barnaby says needs to be educated."
Country bible The Weekly Times expressed a similar sentiment after the cancellation of the nationally-syndicated Bush Telegraph: "It feels like the bridge crossing the rural-city divide just got bombed."
This is why staff are concerned by the loss of the state-based 7.30s, truncated radio news bulletins, and the "de-commissioning" of Duncan's show.
They say management has assured them such content will find a home elsewhere, pointing to the extended Sunday evening TV news bulletins, the News24 channel, local radio and ABC Online.
Yet reporters say this is not the same as a guaranteed weekly 30-minute slot on Friday nights, with a team of investigative specialists searching for stories to fill it.
"They tell us a regional story should get up on its merits," says one senior source. "But unless it's a huge story, like Ballarat burning down, or a quirky story, like teaching alpacas how to knit socks, [they're not interested].
"You're missing a vast middle ground. That middle ground might be a report from an agricultural region – things that are central to how our economy functions.
"There's a real fear these 'middle ground' stories – which are so vital to the communities themselves – simply won't be told. The fear is we're effectively shutting the door on them."
In response, Reynolds looks me in the eye and says, "We absolutely won't be the 'quirky division'. Our teams have far too much respect for our audiences to do that, and we are not that now ... my belief is you will see better quality and more diverse stories being able to emerge."
In November, while announcing 400 budget cut-induced redundancies, ABC managing director Mark Scott revealed the creation of the Regional Division. The following month, he appointed Reynolds as its head.
Named Telstra Tasmanian Business Woman of the Year in 2009, Reynolds started as a cadet at Launceston's Examiner (later returning as its editor, making her Tasmania's first female daily newspaper editor). She has spent the bulk of of her 27-year career, however, at the ABC: as a reporter, producer, manager, news projects chief, and state director.
Most of the controversial cuts (including Bush Telegraph, the local 7.30s, and cuts to radio news) were made before she stepped into the role.
Still, the future is bright for ABC's regional audiences, Reynolds insists. She says the creation of the Regional Division signifies its importance within the broadcaster and, for the first time, the unit has a place "at the table of the executive". Indeed, she believes the new division confers distinct advantages upon its 400 staff, who work across 48 locations outside the capital cities.
In an organisation as large as the ABC, different business units are a necessity. Staff wearily refer to these as "the silos". For some regional workers, this system results in up to five different bosses.
Reynolds is determined to change this. "We need to unify these teams to make sure we're not duplicating our effort," she says. "For instance, three different people chasing the same story, the same content, the same talent."
Employees will also be shown how to bring their stories to a bigger audience.
"I've had so many staff say, 'I've got a great idea for a story that I'd like to get up on AM or PM, but I actually don't know who to go to in the ABC because I'm so far removed from [those radio programs]. Well, we're building pathways for that to happen."
Landline, the acclaimed regional and rural current affairs TV program, will fall under the new division. And filming has begun on a new, as-yet un-named eight-part series, to be hosted by Heather Ewart (creator and host of A Country Road: The Nationals). The program will "focus on ordinary people in fascinating places and question why they've chosen the coastal or country life".
All of which is great, staff say. Yet concerns remain that regional and rural stories will get lost in the wash.
To ensure this doesn't happen, says an ABC spokeswoman, the broadcaster appointed state coverage producers in its state and territory newsrooms after the Friday night local 7.30 programs were axed. This year, their goal is to create a combined total of 80 local news specials and 500 local stories or interviews.
Fortunately, Reynolds says, the Regional Division was quarantined from the latest round of budget cuts. Still, she expects teething problems, not least because the redundancies are involuntary.
"I'm totally up front about that," she says. "There will be no headcount loss, and everyone will be able to apply for a new job. But there may be some people who won't find a role for them.
"I don't want to lose skilled people in this. We really do have some of the best people in the country working for us."
Since she started in January, Reynolds has visited half of her 48 regional or rural offices, and held Skype conferences with the rest.
"While you've had some people express concern to you, I've had an awful lot of contact from people who are really excited. I've had emails from people today saying, 'I'm really excited – and my role is affected but I can see a great opportunity.' There is huge support for what we're doing internally."
Reynolds uses the example of The Gold Coast and Mt Isa: both regional Queensland cities, yet different in almost every way. Each will continue to get their local news and stories, not generic "Queensland" content.
"We need to reflect the concerns, issues, joys and events of each regional community," she says. "There is no cookie-cutter, one size fits all approach. At the same time, we have to make sure there aren't any barriers to this rich and diverse content finding a broad audience.
"People may try to look back and go, 'Oh last year there were changes to Bush Telegraph and the state-based 7.30s.' But we are clearly making a commitment to regional Australia for the future, when others aren't. And our audiences will find that the ABC is still there, even if the others are not."