It was less than a month ago — October 18 to be precise — that the ABC’s new managing director, Michelle Guthrie, fronted Senate estimates. While there, she was asked about cuts to specialist programming, specifically at Radio National.
Her response? She said there were no plans for redundancies “at the moment”.
Two weeks later, the ABC announced it was axing Catalyst, at least as it stands now, with nine staff affected. And today, it announced seven roles at Radio National would be affected, with several programs going. So much for assurances to Senate estimates. And don’t think ABC staff haven’t noticed …
In a less imperfect world, karma would assert itself and the Minister would, shortly after, announce that Ms Guthrie had his full support and confidence…
Maybe not in this world, though, eh?
Bad news, bad news, come to where I sleep…