YOUR ABC

Lifelong ABC viewer and listener Simon Harman questions the wisdom of the new policies.

‘Only 2% of complaints to the ABC are about political bias,” he says. “So who is the Board trying to please? I don’t think the policy is for the benefit of the ABC audience. People don’t avoid the ABC because of political bias. They just don’t like the programs.’

Is the ABC biased? Simon felt it wasn’t a question of bias. ‘The principle of objectivity is bogus. We can hear right-wing claptrap on lots of private media. In itself, the ABC provides a balance in the wider media picture, filling in some of the missing parts of the debate. This is especially so outside the metropolitan area. Think of the media available here in Grafton.

‘The ABC by allotting more airplay to right wing views is not going to win anyone over to the conservatives. We’ve been bombarded with this neo-liberalist rubbish for over a quarter of a century and a lot of people just won’t buy it. It just goes to show how idiotic this ideology is: for all the time and money that is thrown at it, conservative governments do not have huge groundswells of support, and their polling victories are more to do with what’s happening with interest rates.’

Simon observes that the ABC does in fact broadcast plenty of right wing opinions. ‘The problem I have with the likes of ABC commentators Michael Duffy, Andrew Bolt or Gerard Henderson is the quality of the journalism. It’s not cogent and is often just a diatribe aimed at the so-called left, who are just regular folks. For example, Michael Duffy believes that a Tasmanian pulp mill will be a win-win for Gunns and the Greens. This is the thinking: he claims environmental groups will experience increased membership – an interesting slant on the growth fetish! The logic is priceless.’

Jim Knight is another long-time member of the ABC’s audience. Jim believes it’s up to the individual to interpret information. He doesn’t see the ABC as biased.

‘Any bias is more likely to be coming from the media corporations owned by the likes of Packer and Murdoch’, he says. ‘Journalists working for those organisations understand what they can and can’t say. Their careers won’t last unless they toe the proprietor’s line. There’s no such thing as balance.

‘The ABC is currently being hauled into line as a result of the Board being stacked with the Prime Minister’s people. I remember Phillip Lynch did his best to bust the ABC in the late 60s.’

Jim doesn’t watch TV since his aerial was damaged. He listens to the radio, preferring Radio National and Fine Music FM. On Radio National he listens to Robin Williams and Phillip Adams if the topic is interesting. He’s listened to Michael Duffy once or twice but didn’t like the views being expressed. ‘Terry Lane was better,’ says Jim. ‘The trouble with those think tanks is they think like tanks.’

Jim and Simon get most of their information from books and journals, exchanging books with like-minded friends. Simon uses the internet when he can. Jim subscribes to Dissent, Pacific Ecologist, New Internationalist and Green Left Weekly. Not the sort of characters the ABC Board thinks much of.

-Claire