Aunty’s radio rules the waves, but ABC TV is listing badly

Veteran sports presenter Jim Maxwell spoke for many when he took a swipe over its diminished TV sports coverage. The same could be asked of politics, business, finance and crime.

That ABC Television is in trouble is not in dispute. It’s the extent of the mess that is exercising the minds of those who care about the national broadcaster and its future. As a former employee, I am one of them. Declining audiences, incessant promotion (and cross-promotion) of so-called celebrity presenters and “their” shows, woeful summer programming and public criticism by its own staff are just some of the issues it is facing.

I value the ABC. Yes it’s costly, but it’s important that it is publicly funded, that it remains independent and that it does not accept commercial advertising. It is also important it operates efficiently, prudently and adheres to the highest standards of governance. On these three criteria alone, the ABC is struggling.

Following a shambolic 2018 when governance upheavals resulted in the departure of both the managing director and the chairman it was hoped things would get back on track. They haven’t. And its television offering may well have regressed.

This suggests managing director David Anderson has the job ahead of him to restore credibility to television news, current affairs, sports and analysis of business and finance — now all but moribund aside from the digital platform offering.

ABC TV news — once the ­cornerstone of its credibility — is dull and predictable. The foreign coverage is working well but its domestic team rarely breaks news and seems to be little more than pictures pasted over information available on the internet. The ABC’s 24-hour news channel is poor, like most 24-hour news channels. Why bother?

Veteran sports presenter Jim Maxwell spoke for many when he took a swipe over its diminished TV sports coverage. Maxwell said sports coverage on ABC TV barely existed and that what did make it to air was “shown up” by SBS. He asked if anyone cared about ABC sports cover.

The same could be asked of politics, business, finance and crime. In an age when commercial television news and current affairs are just about unwatchable, the runway ought to be open to the ABC to excel.

Is it spreading itself too thin attempting to appeal to too many audiences at the same time? Are programmers scheduling endless summer repeats to make a point about budget cuts? Is it a crisis of confidence about its purpose in the digital age?

Curiously, as television gets worse, the national radio and digital offerings improve, not that they are without fault.

Examples abound where the ABC has fallen short of commonly accepted standards such as the Four Corners report on the Murray Darling Basin. This managed to offend almost all stakeholders and was factually wanting on many fronts. Technical glitches on news and current affairs are commonplace — with constant delays or breakdowns in quality or sound. There’s a lack of confidence about the television news and current affairs offering coupled with a reluctance to accept when the ball’s been dropped.

They do get it right sometimes. The report on the mistreatment and slaughter of retired race horses was an important story and those involved deserve credit. Of course, it took months to prepare, was extremely costly to the taxpayer and the ABC seized every opportunity over weeks to repeat the appalling vision.

The ABC used to routinely break business and finance stories and was admired for doing so. Not now. Presenters these days throw up meaningless charts telling viewers that the market was “up a bit” or alternatively “down a bit”. It’s hardly analysis. We knew that at the close of trading. It’s not television and it’s not news.

Four Corners, Q&A, 7.30 and Insiders all make varying efforts to reach and keep their audiences — but each is falling short. The Drum is just a pointless talkfest with large, unwieldy panels.

The evidence of bias and lack of balance in these shows should trouble presenters, producers and those who “run” the ABC.

It was revealed this week that executives and board members had racked up more than $20m in travel expenses in the past year, many apparently regarding business class air travel as a right. This does nothing to enhance public empathy when it comes to questions of budgeting for the corporation. Most private corporates, and many government departments, require all staff (irrespective of seniority) to adhere to economy air travel and a range of other strict expenses policies. But not the ABC.

Nonetheless, it’s at times like now, when communities along the east coast are in crisis from fires and others from drought, that the ABC can shine.

Morning television coverage of the bushfires through its regional and national networks has been outstanding. Reporters in the field are performing well under pressure, doing unfamiliar live crosses amid changing circumstances. ABC Radio is well practised at coverage of natural disasters and again is on the ball.

But these days ABC Television is a poor second cousin to its radio counterpart, especially Radio National which routinely produces stimulating, relevant and contemporary content and does so with a high degree of professionalism.

While Radio National may be delivering the goods (despite its glitches, faults and repeats), when it comes to ABC Television, many of us are switching over or ­switching off.

John Simpson is a former ABC radio and television journalist and has served on boards in the private and public sectors.