Cut here: Reshaping the ABC
After the ABC unveiled its first round of cuts after having its funding cut in the last budget Ben Goldsmith of the Queensland University of Technology looks at how it might look in the future, in this cross-posting from The Conversation.
Monday’s announcement that the ABC will make 80 positions redundant is just the latest move in an enforced process of change to the public service broadcaster. It has a long way yet to run.
The announcement finally put the lie to Tony Abbott’s election eve pledge, live on national television, that there would be “no cuts to the ABC or SBS”. In concert with other recent announcements, it seems clear that public broadcasting – and in particular the ABC – is squarely in the government’s sights.
What’s the point of this article? It doesn’t go to the substance, which is Turnbull’s assumption that the ABC has a bevy of staff that add no value. Everyone who’s been anywhere near the place knows that is true and it’s clear Scott has a taste for it (note: vast increase in PR staff under his leadership).
One would think Turnbull should ask for more original programming at lower cost. That is, cut the pen pushing and increase the output. We know they can get a lot more product budget by simply outsourcing the studio ops to contractors.
It might also be useful to ask whether the ABC actually can justify its very large overseas staffing???
Hey facts. If PR headcount is an indicator for waste … have a look at Abbott and Morrison’s small army of them. If the government was serious about waste that would be a good place to start.
@Flip: governments live on PR. The ABC? I leave it to you, but it’s worth checking them out. Sadly the public funding does not run to a directory.
You will find almost all ABC television staff agree the place is heavily overstaffed in middle and upper end management. 12 senior people at the ABC do the job of 2 programmers at channel 9.