Mark Scott blames govt for ABC’s Sydney focus. Does the ABC do enough for regional Australia, or is it too focused on Sydney? The latter has been a complaint leveled against the national broadcaster for years — and departing managing director Mark Scott says the government is to blame. Yes, the lion’s share of ABC content and news is created and produced at Ultimo (and outsourcing does not help this disparity), but Scott told ABC radio host Jon Faine that it was a budgetary reality:

“There’s no doubt that when you get a funding cut that one of the things you instinctively do is centralise so as to drive efficiencies, but we are looking to make the ABC into being as broad and as inclusive as possible.”

“I think we are conscious of trying to do more where we can around the country. I think we’re conscious of [the move to Sydney, but] we are constrained as well by the budget realities that we face.”