ABC boss Mark Scott fires back at critics and calls for clarity on size of funding cuts
The managing director of the ABC has tonight taken aim at its critics rejecting suggestions that the public broadcaster retreat from the online space, while also calling on the Coalition government to provide clarity of the size and time frame of proposed funding cuts.
ABC boss Mark Scott pictured at Mumbrella360 earlier this year
In a strongly worded speech to the University of Melbourne, Mark Scott tonight rejected recent comments by the communications minister Malcolm Turnbull that there was no need for cuts to ABC content and that any cost savings imposed on the ABC could be found through “back office savings”.
“The mythical ‘backroom’ solution, for instance, where large savings can be ripped out of a media organisation while content remains untouched, suggests binary decision-making, some separation between two fields that simply does not accord with practice in any organisation,” said Scott, referring to the need to look at both operational and content savings.
Let’s just remind everybody again about Mark Scott’s real problem: his $800,000 a year salary. And the $400,000 a year salaries for TV talent who work 2 hours a week reading an autocue. These are the gems that we’ve heard about. You can just imagine what else they have hidden from FOI revelation.
This is public sector – comparisons with commercial sector salaries are totally irrelevant as these people would never get a gig there anyway. When you cannot manage your own “household finances” responsibly, you get into trouble. When you pay yourself a grotesque salary, you cannot complain about public funding.
You do not try and mug the taxpayers yet again.
Mark Scott has failed – time to move him on.
Spot on Mike.
Scott has been preoccupied with expanding the ABC in unnecessary and expensive ways. ABC News 24 is a joke, yet the ABC’s digital presence is still underwhelming and the news there is largely a sets of feeds from wire services. As a national broadcaster, it should be a platform with lively debate around issues that it’s well paid talent are engaged in. It isn’ and they aren’t. iView is essentially a copy of the BBC service anyway so no credit should be given there either.
In this era, I’d expect my tax dollars to go to a leader who knows how to innovate and disrupt online. Hopefully Turnbull will intervene.
Mike+FoABC have it nailed. Scott has done nothing to advance the cause of relevant engaging content for Australians. His approach allowed the (news) regime that runs the ABC to fatten up the deals for the central committee and acolytes, while shaving programs (Religion Report etc) that were actually both highly relevant and interesting. And he spent the money on News 24!
TV is overwhelmed by BBC content that is now coming direct via Foxtel and may soon come OTT. The same old production mafia dominate and people like the Chaser and the Denton crowd get to experiment with anything that occurs to them.
Scott needs to be replaced by someone who is actually interested in what people value and who wants to inform and entertain them with original ideas and programs.
Do you SERIOUSLY think that an on-air presenter is only working when the “ON AIR” light goes on? Who do you think writes the stories? The pixies in Turnbull’s fictitious backroom?
Of all the media operators in Australia, the ABC is the one that “most gets it” and “got it first”.
Your comments show just how out of touch with reality you are. Shakes my head in disbelief. By the way I am going to ignore your vitriolic replies so don’t bother.
The ABC is the only thing worth watching on FreeView and the only Australian news source worth reading online, so if they’re doing a bad job, then maybe that’s saying more about commercial outlets than it is about the ABC.
Why does ADC think it needs more than one TV Channel? Surely funds would be better used making the one channel good. At present it is very mediocre. Continual repeats, no balanced political commentary or programs, and very few home made programs. Really very little worth watching these days. If you want to go to sleep in front of TV just watch that boring Q&A with it’s totally predicable bias and boring polllies. Auntie is really showing her age and suffering media dementia.