ABC News boss Justin Stevens has tried to reassure audiences outside the east coast capitals that the national broadcaster has not betrayed them in moving to nationalise its 7pm Sunday bulletin, as part of the biggest organisational shakeup at the ABC in six years.
In an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne late Thursday, Stevens repudiated claims the consolidated Sunday evening bulletins constituted a “betrayal” of local audiences in cities such as Adelaide and Perth, whose localised 7pm news bulletins were nixed in a restructure announcement made to ABC staff earlier that afternoon.
“Betrayal is a heavy word,” Stevens said. “They might [feel that way] if they thought that was the only thing we’ve announced today. So let’s give them the courtesy of telling them everything we’ve announced.”
Once the changes kick in at the end of the financial year, the ABC will continue to broadcast its localised state-based 7pm bulletins six nights a week, with a national Sunday bulletin to be carried across the country on Sundays. Stevens, when pressed, said the new national bulletin, ABC News Sunday, will not be broadcast from the ABC’s Ultimo headquarters.
Why the restructure?
The change emerged among a slew of major announcements on Thursday, including deep job cuts that will see 120 staffers leave the ABC as part of an effort to shift the organisation’s focus towards its digital platforms.
In an email to staff on Thursday, seen by Crikey, ABC managing director David Anderson said the changes made were “necessary for the longer term”, as the national broadcaster comes up against the same economic headwinds faced by other media organisations.
“The ABC is operating in an environment that is subject to inflationary pressures. We also face the need to increase investment in digital transformation to improve our efficiency and meet the needs of audiences,” Anderson wrote.
“The decisions we make now are necessary for the longer term. The reinvestment and the transition to digital-first will mean new roles and new skills are required across our workforce.”
The restructure will see the ABC move away from traditional broadcasting technology in favour of a focus on digital platforms. As a result, from July 1 the ABC will dispense with its separate regional and local divisions, with regional bureaux to be folded into the broadcaster’s broader news division.
The five-year plan
It comes after the release of the ABC’s five-year plan, published last Friday. In it, the ABC outlined plans to move resources away from AM radio band transmission and TV to podcast and on-demand programs, delivered through its ABC iView, ABC Listen and ABC News platforms, in an effort to acquire a majority-digital audience by 2028.
The changes will also see the creation of a new ABC content division, headed by chief content officer and former Netflix executive Chris Oliver-Taylor, in a bid to simplify the broadcaster’s commissioning model.
That new division will see capital city local radio, most of the national radio networks of Radio National, ABC Classic, triple j, and digital audio broadcasting services all at home together under Oliver-Taylor.
What it means for news
On the news side, the cuts included a number of journalists and producers, including political editor Andrew Probyn, whose job was axed as part of a restructure of the ABC’s Canberra Parliament House bureau.
The bureau, according to a change proposal seen by Crikey, was previously operating in an “outdated, top-heavy structure” too focused on linear television, recommending Probyn and a television editor be ousted in favour of three new digital and social content creation roles.
Where does that leave arts?
According to an email sent to staff by Stevens, seen by Crikey, further changes include a renewed focus on state and territory politics, including the return of Stateline, as well as the formation of a new climate, environment and energy team. A notable casualty of the news-side changes was the standalone ABC arts team, which will be disbanded and reintegrated across the newsroom.
Within the newly created content division, the changes related to how content is commissioned for TV and audio platforms, as well as making digital products a priority, and focusing on “audience and impact”.
“The ABC will continue to prioritise key genres such as Indigenous, arts, children’s, scripted, entertainment and factual, ensuring strong public broadcasting values are inherent in what we commission, but ensuring that the ABC’s content is relevant for all of Australia,” Oliver-Taylor told staff in an email, seen by Crikey, on Thursday.
He said the division’s “scripted” department, generally responsible for commissioning shows like Utopia, Mystery Road, Total Control and other series, will soon have a new manager, while announcing a new arts, music and events department, headed by Kath Earle.
The mood inside the public broadcaster
Rumours of the restructuring announcement sent the ABC’s major Sydney and Melbourne newsrooms into overdrive earlier this week. Official news of the announcements was met with frustration across the ABC’s capital city newsrooms, sources say.
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), the union representing media workers, said the dozens of job cuts announced on Thursday would “inevitably weaken” the broadcaster’s ability to deliver quality journalism to Australian audiences.
“The ABC has been running on empty for the past decade and we are concerned about how it can continue to deliver quality public interest journalism with even fewer staff following these cuts,” said Cassie Derrick, media director at the MEAA.
“Local journalism in our country continues to be eroded, and these cuts are a further insult to local audiences.”
“Linear Television”. What a totally meaningless phrase. Here’s a hot tip: TV is not dying. People still watch TVs. The only thing that’s changed is the delivery mechanism – most people wouldn’t know or care if what they are watching is delivered via TCP/IP. How this has anything to do with effectively neutering the national bureau is beyond me. When I watch (for example) Media Watch on YouTube rather than “Linear Television” (whatever that is), it is the content of the program that’s important to me. If it looks, walks and sounds like a Duck, it’s a Duck. In this case, it’s the continued deliberate eviscerating of the ABC’s critical role as the only mainstream source of news content that’s even vaguely related to what’s really going on. People like Probyn (and I’m not a fan-boy of his) are inconvenient because they tend to ask tricky questions, rather than Dorothy Dixers or stray outside party press releases. Both major parties will be quite happy with this result – the rest of us should not be.
Andrew Probyn is the classic, political, cynical, observer and thus, disliked by both major party’s.
And so, exactly what is needed, if the ABC wishes to have the credibility, that the trash “media”/ “entertainment” crave and can’t achieve.
Even when David Speers entertains the “desperates” from the Murdochs and nien entertainment, all the viewers know that the ABC is just checking its standards.
Does anyone who has the facility to access iview/ UTube/ podcasts ensuring that the population can create their own echo chamber and avoid having a credible reliable legislated fair and equitable report of current affairs and political affairs such as the National News.
I believe that the CEO and board are city centrist and lacking the facility to think further distant than Parramatta.
The “plan” needs to review because “Linear TV” and Radio National are all that is available, as the rebuttal to Sky News cr-p and Ben Fordham on relay, when the land extends much further than Bathurst, ignoring the Canberra bubble.
Substantially agree with your point. I did think of Utopia when I read the news about this, I think they might be Rhondaising. I demur slightly re your everybody watches TV, young people in shared households in my experience tend to watch their notebooks or other smaller screens. Many of these households don’t even have TVs. However, this may be just a phase of life. Once partnered (if just two can afford the rent) a TV presents advantages.
But back to the Rhonda concepts, I detect lots of buzzwords and deference and privilege to the designers of the mediums (the Carstens in Utopia speak) over the content creators and experts. A disaster for quality, a recipe for dumbing down.
This “plan”looks to me like a run on from directions designed to respond to the Coalition’s agendas and hostility. So a Zombie plan that is walking on, even while the reasons for it are gone.
The regions have actually been further disadvantaged in terms of service by post digital changes in media generally, these centralisations at the ABC double down on that. To say that centralisation is needed for regional reporting, when the pandemic has just demonstrated how the digital renders centralisation needless, is absurd. Moreover, politically the regions are traditionally strong supporters of the ABC and important not least because they are inside the conservative tent. On that alone this “plan” smacks of a foolish own goal.
Agreed. There’s no doubt that a digital has, and is, happening. I think the central point I was making is that “content” (I hate using that word in this context) is still critical, regardless of the delivery mechanism. Conflating this with the “restructuring” of the political reporting function of the organisation is just nonsense. Also agree that the regions are being shafted worst here (cf. the wonder of the regional NBN). Broadcast, as opposed to Narrowcast, is also an important component of what used to be civil society. It’s a whole ‘nother discussion about how “social” media turns out to be…surprise…anti-social media. Our current ruling ideology thrives on division rather than community.
” a digital shift”….
Absolutely. You can also expect those opposed to this fetishisation of the digital to bring up the importance of AM radio during emergencies, as an old technology that runs on batteries and has greater reach and resilience and affordability. In a regional Australia where disasters always loom and more so into the future, this is almost existential for some communities.
I am not against accepting, even embracing, the move to digital just objecting, like you, to the nonsensical conflating of the move to this medium meaning content and source and control over content has to change. It’s like some bastard miscomprehension of McLuhan’s the medium is the message.
Before you can watch Media Watch on YouTube, you’ll have to endure two ads …
although on ‘Linear Television’, you’ll have to sit through the ABC promos
beforehand too (and you can’t ‘Skip Ads’ on the last one).
Agree – but I’d rather watch a promo for ABC programmes than some shite about another miracle cure on YT. I won’t create an “account” to watch on iView though. I don’t want my “recommendations” “personalised”.
If I sound cynical…well, I spent 10+ years as a tech guy in an international marketing/advertising conglomerate and understand a bit about how the data works…
I’m desperately disappointed with this new ALP government.
The ABC has suffered multiple dynamite detonations during the nearly 10 year reign of these LNP goons, to the point where it has become a totally dysfunctional structure.
The way to repair it is by starting AT THE TOP.
Anything else is a complete waste of time, effort and money.
Just out of interest, why are you blaming the new ALP government? The Albanese Labor government has set a new five-year funding term which will give financial stability and safeguard against political interference. The ABC is independent of government and make their own decisions in regard to staffing. Nothing to do with the ALP government.
Oh. And who appoints the Board/Chair of the organisation?
That would be the PM of the day which is then endorsed by the Opposition. So?
So? Consider the stacking of the board over the last 10 years and tell me that you seriously believe that the Government of the day has no influence over the direction of the ABC. No-one wants the ABC to be a political puppet, but consider the possibility that a new “progressive” (LOL) government can do nothing to correct this?
I understand that the members of the ABC board are appointed for fixed terms. Does that mean that most are still Liberal appointees?
Yes
and several of them have expiry dates soon or in the recent past. let’s see how the Alternative Liberal Party behaves eh?
A fish rots from the head.
When I require local news in Brisbane the main ABC 7pm TV bulletin regularly struggles to provide coverage. Of course this is the result of staff cuts over the past few years – knowing this adds to the frustration for viewers. Stateline’s return is a welcome announcement but at what cost to the remainder of the news department….?
The emphasis on digitising is worrying: an ageing population means many people will not be technically proficient to manage devices as their cognitive skills wane. ‘Linear television’ appears to be a target. ABC presenters are oft urging us to contact the organisation through Facebook – no thanks. Society is being dumbed down sufficiently already without being herded down that path.
I have no idea what “linear television” is. I know how to work a computer and an iPad, and IView and SBS On Demand, but what the hell is “linear television”?
A bullet point from a PwC (or EY, or Accenture, or….) PowerPoint presentation. Helps Anderson think he’s down with the kids.
I’ll take a punt that it’s “traditional TV” – ie: shows broadcast to a fixed schedule – rather than “netflix TV” – streamed on demand.
I almost vomit when I hear “contact us via FaceBook”, no, I don’t want my privacy/ attitude for sale.
The ABC should be reviewing it’s “PLAN”.
I agree , I don’t do Facebook at all, and don’t believe that should be the main, or only way to contact our “national broadcaster. “
Then The Drum cuts off Facebook comments…. because the feedback doesn’t suit producers’ agenda…. 36 Coalition party office holders this year : 10 Labor : 4 Greens…. hiding Coalition party members’ affiliations : listing Labor and Greens’ ….. employers/business far more represented than workers…. for ‘discussions’ that effect us all?
All if not most RN programs stopped comments (transcripts, direct downloads etc.) several years ago…. precluding audience participation onshore/offshore, while the same programs are not promoted via social media, where anyone can comment, critically…. meanwhile Friends of the ABC complain about declining audiences (with the Listen app not working well, if downloadable….).
The ‘management’ preference or strategy is live content that can be neither analysed nor rebutted/countered over time e.g. by experts; especially advantageous for partisan talking points of the right; but like religious sermons?
All if not most radio programs stopped comments (transcripts, direct downloads etc.) several years ago…. precluding audience participation onshore/offshore, while the same programs are not promoted via social media, where anyone can comment, critically…. meanwhile complaints about declining audiences (with the Listen app not working well, if downloadable….).
The ‘management’ preference or strategy is live content that can be neither analysed nor rebutted/countered over time e.g. by experts; especially advantageous for partisan talking points of the right; but like religious sermons?
The ‘management’ preference or strategy is live content that can be neither analysed nor rebutted/countered over time e.g. by experts; especially advantageous for partisan talking points of the right; but like religious sermons?
Tonight National’s stooge Katrina Hodgkinson was on (no ex-Labor/Greens member/official counter of course) :-
Barron quoting Dutton’s words re ‘Thorpe needing help’ -> she translating what she thought Dutton ‘meant’, attempting to mitigate Dutton’s ‘free character assessment’ (his attempt at counting coup?) against Thorpe, that he might have been taken out of context – when Barron said it sounded like Dutton was trying to part-blame Thorpe, for her own experiences, Hodgkinson said she hadn’t heard/seen the interview…. but was ready with white-wash at first light?
The LNP squeezed the ABC budget for years, now it looks like ABC management will do the rest to finish Aunty off. Probyn was neither the best nor the worst (remember Uhlmann?) political editor the ABC has had, but the idea that the ABC doesn’t need such a role makes one wonder what sort of “content” they propose to smear over multiple digital platforms. Past ABC restructures have culled the people at the coal face, but have tended to spare the fat cats in middle-upper management at Ultimo. Will this be any different? I’m a life-long rusted-on ABC viewer but it might be time to bury the relationship.
I have a journo friend at ABC who complains that middle-management is where all the fat is stored.
Smear is appropriate. What are we going to do when the deals are done and Aunty is selling her wares on the street corner for tuppence a go?
I can think of a few people they could have let go before Probyn. Mainly the News shills imported by Ita?
Looks as though the LNP open warfare attack on the ABC continues under Labor?