Andrew Probyn axed in ABC move into ‘digital and social content’ – but not all are convinced

Andrew Probyn was involved in a stand-off with ABC bosses over a Lidia Thorpe story they worried would be seen as ‘punching down on a black woman.’

Former ABC political editor Andrew Probyn. Picture: Kym Smith

The bulk of the ABC’s most senior press gallery journalists gathered on Friday morning for a hastily convened meeting in the broadcaster’s Canberra bureau with three of its top executives, led by news boss Justin Stevens.

But the elephant in the newsroom – and its highest-level staff member – was absent.

Less than 24 hours earlier, the ABC’s political editor, Andrew Probyn, the head of its Canberra bureau, was summonsed by bosses to be informed his position no longer existed.

As Probyn readily admitted on Thursday, he was “shell-shocked” and blindsided by the move.

“I was told they want to employ two new social and digital media reporters in the Parliament House bureau,” he said.

Probyn’s position is one of 120 to be axed, with 40 of them in the news division.

ABC Canberra staff were told on Friday that Probyn’s redundancy was a result of the fact that the public broadcaster needed to move away from traditional television content and into generating “digital and social content”.

One ABC Canberra insider told The Weekend Australian it was “good to be bolstering social media production”, but quickly added: “It’s the Andrew Probyns who ­create the content that they’ll be turning into TikTok and Instagram reels.”

And that goes to the heart of the matter – which audience is the ABC aiming to serve?

The note that justified the ABC’s plans to restructure its Parliament House bureau and eliminate Probyn’s position maintained there was a strong rationale for the move. Managing director David Anderson claimed that it was “an opportunity to transform our ­political coverage to engage new audiences, including younger ­audiences, who are increasingly seeking their political news from other platforms and outlets, while also continuing to serve our broadcast audiences”.

ABC managing director David Anderson. Picture: Nikki Short

But how will the ABC’s “traditional” audience – older Australians in the suburbs and regions, who aren’t necessarily digitally-savvy – be served?

“It looks as if management is telling its loyal, older followers: thanks for your decades of support, but would you please f..k off now, we’ve decided we want to be funky,” one ABC veteran, who asked not to be named, told The Weekend Australian.

Multiple ABC staff also ­declined to be named, revealing that news bosses were “on the warpath” following disparaging comments about the national broadcaster published in The Australian on Friday.

One source said the push to put “diversity” concerns ahead of everything else was compromising the ABC’s news coverage.

“These demands for 50/50 ­diversity targets on absolutely everything – let’s call it for what it is, it’s woke shit,” the source said. “But that is all ABC management seems to care about these days. That, and an obsession with chasing younger viewers, which is going nowhere.”

A Canberra press gallery ­insider said: “While there is some merit in the ABC’s stated diversity targets – insofar as they are intended to reflect a changing Australia – it’s not always an easy fit with the pursuit of straight-down-the-line journalism.”

The Friday morning meeting in Parliament House was fronted by Stevens (appearing by video-link), along with deputy news director Gavin Fang and the ABC’s managing editor of national and inter­national, Lisa Whitby.

It was conveyed to staff that eliminating Probyn’s job was ­proposed by the ABC’s Canberra bureau chief, ­Michelle Ainsworth, and the decision was signed off higher up.

Probyn hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with Ainsworth during her stint of less than a year running the Canberra bureau.

Last October, The Australian reported that Probyn had been “incredulous” at Ainsworth’s first big decision after taking over the running of the bureau: to ditch the ABC’s beer fridge.

Probyn was the only staff member to speak up at a meeting in the bureau to protest the decision. But Ainsworth would not budge, ­telling all Canberra staff in a follow-up email: “It does compromise our reporting of the culture in this building if we are still running a beer fridge … It’s no longer ­acceptable to drink alcohol in the office these days.”

More generally, Probyn is seen as someone who speaks his mind on both internal and external issues.

One high-profile on-air personality claimed that Probyn was paying the price for “standing up to management over some of their more stupid editorial and staffing decisions”.

The Weekend Australian has been told one such stand-off ­between Probyn and ABC management took place last October, when the veteran journalist was lobbying for a junior reporter’s scoop about Greens senator Lidia Thorpe’s undisclosed relationship with a former president of an outlaw motorcycle gang.

The Canberra bureau was ­reportedly told by Sydney news bosses that they didn’t want to run the story “because they didn’t want to be seen to be punching down on a black woman”.

“They kept putting hurdles in front of the story, they just didn’t want to run it at all. So Probes kept digging until it was impossible to shelve it,” a senior ABC source said.

“Eventually it ran – and so it should have, it was a legitimate news story – and of course every other news outlet followed it up.”

News director Justin Stevens told The Weekend Australian that it was “simply ridiculous” to suggest the broadcaster “was reluctant to run an exclusive story that we prominently broke”.

“We rigorously interrogate the public interest test for our stories, and if they pass that – as this one did – we back them in,” Mr Stevens said.

Others suggested that it was the ability of Probyn, a self-­described “equal opportunity ­harasser”, to get under the skin of prime ministers that made him a constant issue for ABC bosses.

Probyn told The Weekend Australian of the huge political pressure that came with the ABC political editor’s job. “Only those who have held this position would understand the enormous public and political pressure and scrutiny there is on it,” he said.

An ABC Canberra insider said of the mood in the newsroom after the Friday meeting: “The view was that (the axing of Probyn) is personal. The executives were ­sitting there justifying the ­unjustifiable.”