Judging by this news item, new ABC boss has a challenge ahead

Recently appointed ABC chair Kim Williams at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

There was enormous interest in last week’s Media Watch Dog which led with an update about the recently appointed ABC chair Kim Williams’ publicly expressed view that ABC’s “editorial decisions have too often favoured frivolity”. He is also on record as criticising ABC News’ “idiosyncratic selection of story priorities”.

Well, how’s this going? – MWD hears avid readers cry? Well, not too well – it appears.

Take ABC TV’s News Breakfast – which runs on ABC TV’s main channel as well as on its dedicated news channel – for example. On 12 September, News Breakfast ran – wait for it – a story about an Australian bloke who has set a world record. Co-presenter Michael Rowland introduced the segment about Nicholas Manning who “holds the record for putting on the most underpants in 30 seconds”.

How frivolous can an ABC news story be – and how idiosyncratic? Clearly Kim Williams has got a job ahead of him.

Co-presenter Emma Rebellato then joined the chorus declaring: “It’s all very methodical; he’s got everything laid out”. There followed footage of your man Manning putting on his underpants – one after another – in half a minute. And in world record time.

How frivolous can an ABC news story be – and how idiosyncratic? Clearly Kim Williams has got a job ahead of him.

A FRIDAY THE 13TH WARNING FROM THE ABC TV NEWS BREAKFAST TEAM

As a rule, Media Watch Dog tends to ignore the Fridays which fall on the 13th of the month since there is little point in superstition. However, on Friday 13 September 2024, at around Hangover Time, Ellie’s (male) co-owner heard this exchange on ABC TV’s News Breakfast program. Let’s go to the transcript:

Michael Rowland: A new band [Block Buster] who have just released a debut EP…A Friday track to get you going on the 13th of September. Are you superstitious?

Emma Rebellato: No, not really. I mean, occasionally I’ll do things, you know, to avoid anything – you don’t want to chance things.

Michael Rowland: Chance things, yes. [Unintelligible] Friday the 13th, you should do, should say, nice and safe and sound.

It’s not clear what Comrade Rowland was on about. But, clearly, Comrade Rebellato gave you-beaut advice where she warned viewers (if viewers there were) not to “chance things” on any Friday 13th. So, Hendo decided that the safest and soundest action he could take was to go back to bed for the day and monitor “things” on ABC News without taking any chances.

OBITUARY

Vale Rob Ferguson (2 December 1945 – 31 August 2024)

Robert Ferguson, perhaps best known as the former chief executive officer of Bankers Trust Australia, died after a long illness on 31 August 2024.

Rob was a highly successful business figure in Australia in the late 20th century and early 21st century. But he was much more than that. Rob had a number of interests – including in the racing industry. And he was widely read in the areas of nonfiction. Moreover, he was a retiring, reflective type – unusual among many CBD business types.

Rob Ferguson. Picture: Britta Campion

Rob Ferguson joined The Sydney Institute’s Board in October 1993 and immediately became chairman – a position he held until April 1998 when he became deputy chairman. Rob resigned from the Institute’s board in April 2013 stating that he wanted to travel more with his wife Jenny and family. He remained in touch with Gerard Henderson in the immediate years after leaving the board.

Rob had strong views on a range of issues. But he never imposed his opinions on others and strongly supported the activity of The Sydney Institute as a forum for debate and discussion at which differing opinions were advanced. Rob addressed the Institute on the topics of “Balance in the Boardroom: The Case for Androgyny” (in October 1992), “Questions about Superannuation Investment” (in January 1996) and “Management Redeemed” (in October 1996). The addresses can be located in The Sydney Papers.

There was a little-known side to the successful business figure. In 2006 he was advised that an African asylum seeker, Jeff, had been released from immigration detention and granted a permanent visa but needed transport for work purposes. When the matter was brought to his attention, without asking any questions, Rob bought Jeff a good second-hand car and paid the somewhat high insurance for the first year. Jeff is now married with a child and has permanent employment – and he was deeply appreciative of his benefactor.

Rob Ferguson was a good communicator. For example, he wrote a review article on the book An Extraordinary Life by David Morgan and Oliver Brown. It was published in The Australian Financial Review on 23 December 2023. This is how it commenced:

There are many reasons to read a book – familiarity with the subject matter, for example – but the lure is greatest if you are mentioned. This is the case for me and David Morgan’s biography An Extraordinary Life. There, in chapter nine, is Morgan’s version of how he tried to consummate the purchase of BT Funds Management when he was chief executive of Westpac (a role he held from 1999 to 2008). The business was a major part of Bankers Trust Australia, of which I was CEO at the time. Reading about that episode from his viewpoint was bemusing and at odds with my, and others’, recollections.

That was Rob Ferguson – tough minded but invariably polite.

Rob Ferguson played an important role in the early success of The Sydney Institute. The Institute extends its deepest sympathy to Rob’s wife Jenny of 56 years and to the Ferguson family. Jenny (who addressed The Sydney Institute in 1999) wrote in the conclusion of her obituary on Rob: “He was a humble man who never looked down on anyone. And he also had a world class sense of humour, right up until the end.”

Rob Ferguson: Requiescat In Pace.

[John Durie wrote an obituary about Rob Ferguson in The Australian on 4 September 2024. – MWD Editor.]

CAN YOU BEAR IT?

● AVID MWD READER REVEALS THAT “DANDENONG CRIME EXPERT” JON FAINE RESIDES IN INNER-CITY MELBOURNE (AKA SANDALISTA CENTRAL)

There was enormous interest in “A Jon Faine Moment” in the previous issue of Media Watch Dog. As avid readers will recall, the ABC TV Q+A program decided it was a you-beaut idea to get your man Faine onto a panel to discuss the topic “Q+A in Dandenong: Crime and the War on Woke”. The date was 2 September.

The main focus of the program was on violent crime in the outer suburbs. The first two questions were from women. One was a middle-aged woman of Anglo-Celtic heritage. The other was a middle-aged woman of colour. The first spoke about the increase in crime in the Dandenong area which she said included house break-ins, car theft and knife attacks. The second said much the same – except that her family had personally experienced a home invasion.

Presenter Patricia (“Please call me PK”) Karvelas initially called on Comrade Faine to respond to the first question. He declared, in a condescending manner, that you can’t arrest “everyone” and lock them up. Overlooking the fact that the questioner had not called for everyone to be arrested or jailed. Needless to say, Faine presented himself as some kind of expert on juvenile crime. Last week MWD commented: “It’s not clear what made Comrade Faine an expert on crime anywhere – especially in respect to Dandenong in south-east Melbourne.”

Lotsa thanks to the Melbourne reader who advised Ellie’s (male) co-owner that Comrade Faine lives in inner-city Melbourne, along with oh-so-many of his one-time ABC colleagues. So, there you have it. PK asked Jon Faine to comment on crime in Dandenong – some 36 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. Despite the fact that Comrade Faine resides in Sandalista Central – some 4 kilometres from Melbourne Central. Can You Bear It?

[No. Not really – now that you ask. Perhaps you should rewrite this. As I recall, some years ago Comrade Faine told Hendo that he did not wear sandals. It would seem that he may not have read George Orwell’s 1937 book The Road to Wigan Pier in which Orwell defended “the ordinary, decent person” against “the intellectual book-trained socialist”. He wrote that the latter: “… type is drawn, to begin with, entirely from the middle class, and from a rootless town-bred section of that middle class at that. …It includes…the foaming denouncers of the bourgeoisie, and the more-water-in-your-beer reformers of whom [George Bernard] Shaw is the prototype, and the astute young social-literary climbers…and all that dreary tribe of high-minded women and sandal-wearers and bearded fruit-juice drinkers who come flocking towards the smell of ‘progress’ like bluebottles to a dead cat.”

Good point. As Orwell understood, you don’t have to wear sandals – especially in the English winter – to classify as a sandal-wearer. The same applies to progressive ABC-watching/Guardian-reading occupants of Sandalista Central in inner-city Melbourne. – MWD Editor.]

ABC STAR TONY ARMSTRONG NOT ONLY WORKS BUT ALSO LIVES IN A GROUPTHINK ENVIRONMENT WHERE EVERYONE AGREES WITH EVERYONE ELSE IN A LEFT-OF-CENTRE KIND OF WAY

While on the issue of current and former ABC staff residing in the inner-city abodes of Melbourne, Sydney and the like – consider the case of ABC TV presenter Tony Armstrong.

On 11 September, Comrade Armstrong joined ABC TV News Breakfast presenters Michael Rowland and Emma Rebellato to discuss the forthcoming Royal Visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Early on, Comrade Rowland declared that in his “informed opinion a lot of young people don’t care, honestly, these days about the Monarchy”. Whereas “lots of older Australians do have a residual affection for the Monarchy and the Royal Family [and] would have seen the Queen on previous visits”. He then threw the switch to Comrade Armstrong for his opinion. Let’s go to the transcript:

Tony Armstrong: Yeah. I mean, I’d be like “Where’s Wally?”. It’d be tough to spot me at one of those [Royal visits]. And I think if you canvas my friends, you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t see too, too many going. But that also might just be the area that I live in, as well. You know, sometimes you forget that you do live, well, where I live can be quite homogenous with the way that people think. And everyone starts getting groupthink and all that kind of stuff. So, where I live, I don’t think there’ll be too many people my age going. But who’s to say there isn’t appetite for it [the Monarchy] in greater Australia?

So, there you have it. Tony Armstrong not only works in a Conservative Free Zone that is the taxpayer funded public broadcaster; he also lives in such a zone where “everyone starts getting groupthink” about the Monarchy – and more besides.

In short, Comrade Armstrong does not know even one constitutional monarchist. Despite the fact that some 55 per cent of Australians supported the retention of a constitutional monarchy at the 1999 referendum.

The good news is that your man Armstrong understands that he is the subject of groupthink. Can the same be said of his ABC colleagues? Here’s another question. Can You Bear It?

GREAT MEDIA U-TURNS OF OUR TIME

NINE NEWSPAPERS TWO-PARTY PREFERRED POLL U-TURN

On 20 April 2021, Nine Newspapers – The Age and Sydney Morning Herald – ran an article by Tory Maguire (then managing director, publishing) titled “New polling does away with the two-party preferred results and gets behind the issues”. This is how it commenced:

This week The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age restart publishing political research, with the launch of the Resolve Political Monitor (RPM). You’ll notice a few differences from the way we used to conduct and report polling. Firstly, we do collect voting intention – emulating as closely as possible the real ballot paper ranking without an “undecided” option – but no longer report two-party preferred results. Our readers told us in the past they did not appreciate the “horse race” nature of the way we reported the results of TPP questions and they wanted something deeper …

Chief political correspondent David Crowe, political editor Peter Hartcher and I have had countless conversations with people in the political research sphere since then and we all agreed we too wanted something deeper – why are voters responding the way they are – which is how we formulated this new plan with RPM.

That’s pretty clear. It’s Goodnight Two-Party Preferred vote.

But, wait. Here is how David Crowe’s article on 8 September 2024, titled “Voters blame Labor for inflation woes, not Reserve Bank – poll”, commenced:

Australians are holding Labor responsible for fighting inflation despite public attacks on the Reserve Bank over higher interest rates, with 51 per cent of voters saying the government has the greatest role in halting the pressure on prices. … The poll’s exclusive findings show that Labor and the Coalition are neck and neck in popular support in two-party terms while Albanese has regained a marginal lead over Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as preferred prime minister, ahead by 35 to 34 per cent.

So, there you have it. In April 2021, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald scratched the “horse race” that was the two-party preferred poll conducted by Resolve Political Monitor. But in September 2024 it published Resolve Political Monitor’s two-party preferred poll - and let the horses out of the stable.

Verily, a Great Media U-turn of Our Time.

DOCUMENTATION

“LATE NIGHT LEFT” LETS U.S. ABC PRESENTERS LINSEY DAVIS & DAVID MUIR OFF-THE-HOOK FOR FAVOURING HARRIS OVER TRUMP IN THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

The Wednesday 11 September edition of ABC Radio National’s Late Night Live - which is presented by David Marr in recent times - featured yet another appearance by American journalist Bruce Shapiro. Shapiro works as a contributing editor at the left-leaning magazine The Nation and makes a regular appearance on Late Night Live to provide commentary on American politics. He is yet another example of the ABC’s lack of viewpoint diversity. Since no American conservative gets a regular gig on LNL

Unsurprisingly, the topic of Comrade Shapiro’s recent appearance was the presidential debate, which took place earlier that day (Australian time). Equally unsurprisingly, Shapiro’s commentary was friendly to Kamala Harris and scathing of Donald Trump.

Your man Bruce also had praise for the debate moderators, Linsey Davis and David Muir from the US ABC News. In Shapiro’s telling, they called out Trump’s falsehoods and challenged his attempts to muddy the waters. It’s certainly the case that the moderators intervened to fact-check some of Trump’s claims during the debate. But Shapiro made no mention of the moderators’ failure to hold Harris to the same standard.

As an example, midway through the debate - during a discussion of the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot - Kamala Harris claimed that Trump has previously said there will be a bloodbath if he does not win the 2024 election. This is a frequent line of attack by Democrats and has been widely debunked. During a 16 March 2024 rally in Ohio, Trump said the following:

Donald Trump: You know, Mexico has taken, over a period of 30 years, 34 per cent of the automobile manufacturing business in our country. Think of it, went to Mexico. China now is building a couple of massive plants, where they’re going to build the cars in Mexico and think, they think, that they’re going to sell those cars in the United States with no tax at the border.

Let me tell something to China, if you’re listening President Xi - and Xi and I are friends, but he understands the way I deal – those big, monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now. And you think you’re going to get that, you’re going to not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no.

We’re going to put a 100 per cent tariff on every single car that comes across the line. And you’re not going to be able to sell those cars. If I get elected. Now if I don’t get elected it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole, that’s going to be the least of it, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars, they’re building massive factories.

Clearly, in context, Trump is saying that if he is not elected there will be a bloodbath for the American automobile industry and in the economy more widely. He was not threatening violence if he loses the election. The moderators did not challenge Harris’ well-known falsehoods, as they did with some of Trump’s claims.

Late Night Live listeners were not informed of any of this by Comrade Shapiro. Instead, they were treated to praise for Kamala Harris and the US ABC News debate moderators - along with scorn for Donald Trump. No viewpoint diversity here.

OUTSIDE INSIDERS

As avid readers are well aware, a certain William (Bill) Thompson – a Melburnian who identifies as the ABC’s Southbank Correspondent – set up the “Outside Insiders” video segment some years ago. This is a print edition of the Bill Thompson initiative to report on the ABC TV Insiders program from the outside. The ABC’s Southbank correspondent remains in situ in Melbourne. But Insiders fled inner-city Melbourne for the (media) safety of the Canberra Bubble and, consequently, is now loose from the troublesome Mr Thompson. [Maybe that’s why Insiders junked Melbourne – just a thought. – MWD Editor]

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM AVID READERS, MWD NAMES 10 PETER DUTTON ANTAGONISTS ON THE INSIDERS’ “COUCH” – BUT NOT ONE ANTHONY ALBANESE ANTAGONIST

Lotsa thanks to the Media Watch Dog avid reader who expressed interest in the reference to Mark (“Please call me professor”) Kenny’s most recent appearance as an ABC TV Insiders panellist.

The learned Australian National University professor and one-time Labor staffer/ABC journalist/Age/Sydney Morning Herald scribbler got somewhat confused about the “hot mic” incident between Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and United States Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell at the recent Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga.

But at least Comrade Kenny’s evident confusion caused Ellie’s (male) co-owner to stay awake at Hangover Time on Sunday 1 September. Unlike Sunday 8 September – when the panel comprised ABC fave Annabel Crabb along with Canberra Press Gallery types James Massola (The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age) and Katina Curtis (The West Australian).

It was very much a Zzzzzzzz occasion as three journos joined journo/presenter David Speers in talking about the intricacies of Australian national politics – as seen from Canberra, where Insiders is based.

But MWD digresses, once again. Readers of last week’s MWD are interested in the reference to Niki Savva in her role as a columnist for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. MWD commented that Comrade Savva was one of many Peter Dutton antagonists who have a regular slot on the Insiders panel. MWD mentioned the following names – Laura Tingle, Mark Kenny, Amy Remeikis, Sean Kelly and Fran Kelly in this regard and asked: “Has Media Watch Dog left anyone out?”

Ellie’s (male) co-owner’s inbox was flooded, literally flooded, with responses from avid readers. They named some additional names of Insiders’ panellists who are Dutton antagonists. Namely, David Crowe, Annabel Crabb, John Paul Janke and Lenore Taylor.

How’s that? There are some ten Dutton antagonists who are Insiders panellists. And how many Anthony Albanese antagonists appear on the Insiders panel? Zip.

MWD is not suggesting that Insiders’ producer Samuel Clark should head out to the highways and byways to find even one Anthony Albanese antagonist to put on Insiders. However, in its current state, Insiders provides yet another example of the lack of viewpoint diversity within the taxpayer funded public broadcaster which remains a Conservative Free Zone.

 

NANCY’S COURTESY CLASSES

As avid readers are aware, the late Nancy (2004-2017) did not die. In modern terminology, she merely “passed” on to the Other Side. Hence MWD has been able to keep in touch and seek Nancy’s advice about behaviour, courtesy and all that – with the help of the American psychic John Edward of Crossing Over fame who has a direct line to the recently departed. Or so it seems. MWD looks forward to Mr Edward’s forthcoming visit to Australia which – believe it or not – has been publicised on ABC TV’s News Breakfast.

TIM COSTELLO REFERS TO THE PM AS “ALBO” ON NINE OCCASIONS

Did anyone hear Tim Costello, who presents as an advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, getting a soft interview with Patricia Karvelas on ABC Radio National Breakfast? The date was Thursday 12 September.

Comrade Costello ran his familiar argument in opposition to what he believes is too much gaming advertising on television – especially during sports programs when children are watching. MWD has enough arguments on its plate without getting into this one. However, Ellie’s (male) co-owner was surprised that, in his very strong criticism of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, your man Costello did not use the name “Albanese” once. Nor did he make reference to the term “Prime Minister” or even “Mr”.

Rather, Mr Costello only referred to Australia’s 31st prime minister as “Albo”. On no fewer than nine occasions and without correction by the interviewer. Sounds somewhat disrespectful, don’t you think? MWD certainly does. So, it’s off to Nancy’s Courtesy Classes for you Reverend Tim Costello AO.

[Here’s hoping Nancy’s courtesy classes are successful in this instance. By the way, I wonder how much television your man Costello watches. I note that he made the following comment during his Radio National interview:

Tim Costello: They [the Albanese government] might have a partial ban in children’s programs. But family-friendly programs – the kids watch Master Chef, Lego Masters, Goggle Box – there’ll still be two ads an hour. And people might say: “Oh, it’s only two ads an hour”. Someone said to me: “Yeah, if I saw two detergent ads in an hour, I’d be going, what is going on?” That is a lot of ads still. And that’s, that’s the watering down because of the power of these vested interests.

If Mr Costello reckons there are less than two detergent advertisements an hour on commercial television, he must only watch the taxpayer funded broadcaster where the only adverts are for ABC products. – MWD Editor.]

 

A JOHN LAWS STYLE “DELIBERATE MISTAKE”

As avid Media Watch Dog readers are aware, the famous Sydney-based broadcaster John Laws is not one to readily admit to errors of the factual kind. So, he invented the Deliberate Mistake – which makes it possible for Mr Laws to correct howlers without conceding fault. Clever, eh? Well, Ellie’s (male) co-owner thinks so.

IN WHICH A CERTAIN LBL ADVISES MWD THAT 23 JULY FELL ON A SUNDAY (NOT A FRIDAY) 62 YEARS AGO

Out there in MWD readership land, there is a person named Loveday – who is an avid (but not uncritical) reader. It is not clear whether this person has a first name and – if so – whether or not this person espouses a gender. All MWD knows is that the person involved is courteous and addresses Hendo as “Mr H” before signing off as “LBL”. [Could there be a relationship with the somewhat more famous LBJ of United States political history fame, I wonder? – MWD Editor.]

In any event, LBL is a capital letter Pedant and is up to wading through literally thousands of words before discovering an error. Which is one reason why MWD likes to run deliberate mistakes towards the end of the blog in order to increase LBL’s sense of achievement when a mistake is finally found.

The previous MWD contained a History Corner titled “AFR’s Letters to the Editor Correspondent Misreads the History of Government Aid to Non-Government Schools”. The point was that the decision of the Menzies Coalition government to announce in November 1963 its intention to provide Commonwealth aid to non-government schools had nothing to do with the Goulburn School Strike of July 1962. This was the occasion when the Catholic Church closed its schools in the town to put pressure on the NSW Labor government to provide state aid to Catholic schools. The tactic did not succeed.

The strike was intended to run for six weeks but did not last more than a week. It commenced on Monday 16 July and concluded with a decision that Catholic students should return to Catholic schools – made on 22 July to take effect on Monday 25 July.

So, what was the John Laws Style Deliberate Mistake which the pedant LBL picked up? MWD hears avid readers cry. Well, it was this. History Corner wrote: “The strike ran from Monday 16 July to Friday 22 July, when it was called off”. Whereupon LBL sent this email:

Mr H,

22 July 1962 was a Sunday.

Easy to work out by counting on your fingers.

Regards,

LBL

LBL is correct. 22 July 1962 fell on a Sunday. And that’s when the strike was called off so students could return to Catholic Schools on Monday 23 July. The John Laws Style Deliberate Mistake was to write that 22 July fell on a Friday – not a Sunday. Well done LBL – and keep up the hunt for yet another John Laws Style Deliberate Mistake.