ABC needs to focus on ‘core business’, says former managing director David Hill

The ABC should stop trying to compete with commercial media outlets and focus on ‘serious news and current affairs’, according to its second-longest-serving managing director.

From left: Former ABC managing director David Hill with George Negus and Kerry O’Brien. Picture: John Feder

The ABC should stop trying to compete with commercial media outlets and focus on “serious news and current affairs”, according to its second-longest-serving managing director, David Hill.

Echoing ABC chair Kim Williams’ recent criticism of the public broadcaster’s digital news platforms, Mr Hill said if the taxpayer-funded giant is to return to its best, it needs to focus on its “core business”.

“If you look back to see when the ABC has worked, it’s when it has really prioritised sharp, information-based news and current affairs,” Mr Hill said in an exclusive interview with The Australian.

“The ABC shouldn’t be tempted, even in the pursuit of a younger audience, (to engage) in a race to the bottom by attempting to emulate commercial media.

“The ABC still does a very good job in the regions, particularly in radio. Its strongest per capita support has always been regional radio.

“Overall, I think it should be committed to really first-class news and current affairs.

“Without overstating it, I don’t think the ABC has ever been accused of having too much news and current affairs. And by that I mean serious news and current affairs.”

Mr Hill briefly served as ABC chairman in the mid-1980s, before shifting to the role of managing director, a position he held for close to eight years until early 1995.

He is the second-longest-serving managing director in ABC history, behind Mark Scott, who was in the role for just shy of a decade.

David Hill also served as chairman of the ABC.

Mr Hill’s comments to The Australian come less than a month after Mr Williams issued a stern critique of Radio National, admonishing its “idiosyncratic selection of story priorities”.

“ABC programming needs to be bold. It needs to be something that actually stands up, and that you can embrace and feel proud of, and we need to do that on a very regular basis,” Mr Williams reportedly told RN staff in July.

Mr Hill, 78, would not be specifically drawn on Mr Williams’ remarks about RN, nor would he offer an opinion on Mr Williams’ performance as chair over the first six months of his tenure.

“I was at the ABC when it was in pretty dire straits, as it is again now, but for different reasons,” Mr Hill said.

“For example, today’s proliferation of platforms means ABC drama now has to compete with all the streaming services, and Australian drama is expensive to make.

“I don’t think anybody’s got all the answers.”

Mr Hill said while audiences were turning away from traditional media in all areas – television, radio and newspapers – the fact the ABC is also losing “audience share” was an additional headache for the national broadcaster.

“The problem is that the ABC has reached the point where it gets $1bn a year in government funding,” he said.

“That’s a huge amount of money, and it’s pretty bloody hard to go to Canberra to fight for more if you’re attracting fewer and fewer Australians to the television and radio. They’ve got to have something to sell.

“And I just don’t think there is same level of community affection that there was 30 years ago, when all of Australia was aware that the ABC was costing them just eight cents a day.” Mr Hill said the ABC’s editorial guidelines – as they relate to impartiality and balance – should be rigidly adhered to.

With regards to the decision to give anti-Israel broadcaster Antoinette Lattouf a one-week on-air presenting role last December, Mr Hill said: “They should never have put her on, given she made her position well known.

“And in my view, her publicly stated position (on the Israel-Hamas conflict) was never consistent with the ABC’s editorial guidelines.

“Many of the things she believes in, I personally agree with – but you can’t publicly carry those views and comply with the ABC’s guidelines of impartiality and balance.

“Similarly, I’m a great fan of Laura Tingle and I share her views about Australia and racism, for example, but you can’t be expressing those views publicly as a senior journalist at the ABC.”

Mr Hill said the ABC’s editorial guidelines weren’t the problem; rather, implementation of the guidelines has been lacking in recent times.

Asked what the ABC looks like when it is at its best, Mr Hill said: “When it’s trustworthy. Informative. Entertaining. Reliable. Impartial. Good old-fashioned terms that still resonate with the community.”