Media Diary: ABC’s revenue raising hits a bum note

Not for the first time, the national broadcaster has failed to understand the difference between revenue and earnings.

ABC reporter Avani Dias on Four Corners discussing ticket fees in the music industry. Source: YouTube

With an annual budget of $1,322,904 (excluding staff wages), you’d like to think that Four Corners could get the basics right.

But earlier this month the ABC’s flagship current affairs program bowled up an absolute howler in its investigation into entertainment company Live Nation.

Not for the first time, the national broadcaster failed to understand the (massive) difference between revenue and earnings, with the economic blind spot seriously undermining the reputation of the publicly-funded organisation.

The Four Corners episode, fronted by journalist Avani Dias, was highly critical of Live Nation’s business practices, and its alleged dominance of the industry’s supply chain.

The show claimed: “Many revenue roads lead to Live Nation. The company announced record earnings of roughly $US23bn last year.”

Not true, according to the company’s annual report.

In 2023, the company’s earnings – aka profit – were in fact $US734m. Or in other words, its profit was almost 97 per cent less than the ABC claimed.

Making it worse, the ABC website’s summary of the program’s key findings repeated the glaring error.

“Live Nation, which earned $US23bn last year, has been given millions in taxpayer funds to put on multiple events that never eventuated. The company says it used some of the money to keep staff employed during the Covid-19 pandemic and insists it has complied with funding requirements,” said the summary, which was still on the ABC’s website on Sunday.

In a statement, a Live Nation spokesperson said: “Live Nation is deeply disappointed by the recent Four Corners report which contained several inaccuracies, including our financial performance. Most notably, the report misrepresented our revenue of $23bn as our earnings (profit). This figure represents our global revenue.”

Incredibly, this is not the first time that Aunty’s grasp of Economics 101 has been found wanting on this particular issue.

Back in 2018, the ABC came under heavy fire when its then chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici confused revenue with profit in an online news article and accompanying analysis piece.

Alberici claimed that Australia’s largest companies paid no tax despite garnering billions of dollars in revenue. But she failed to observe that taxes are paid on profits, not revenue.

In response to Diary’s questions, an ABC spokesperson said on Sunday that the online versions of the story would be amended.

“Both the broadcast and online stories refer to revenue, but this will be further clarified to ensure the audience is aware all the references are to pre-tax revenue,” the spokesperson said.

“The Four Corners program ‘Music for Sale’ is important public interest journalism scrutinising issues that Australians have a right to be fully informed about. Live Nation is a dominant player in the Australian live music industry and has received millions in taxpayer-funded government grants.”

ABC news boss Justin Stevens also defended the journalism produced by Four Corners.

“Avani Dias and the Four Corners team are thorough and ethical journalists and the ABC stands behind their work.”

The full Media Diary is in The Australian on Monday.