‘There are important areas for improvement’: Kim Williams says ‘game on’ at the ABC
New ABC chairman Kim Williams is determined to steer the national broadcaster back on track, using his first public address to call for more public funding, and step out plans to uphold the ABC’s “purpose and intellectual ambition”.
In an address at the State Library of Victoria on Wednesday night, Williams shared plans for “a renewed Radio National”, scolded the broadcaster for its own self-congratulatory manner, and said that the national broadcaster should again become the “national campfire” as digital intrusion breeds divisive and disinformation.
“The trends are clear,” Williams said of the current state of the media.
“The dangers are clear. The task is clear. ‘Truth’ and ‘trust’, the oxygen of democracy and the good society, are being turned off.
“Not just by bad actors. But by some market failures. The unforeseen and insufficiently contested consequences of digital technology which abounds around us.”
Williams also outlined plans to build “a great national audio service, one that demonstrates the power of the spoken word, the importance of clear thinking, and the sublime force of a wide range of Australian intellects,” adding that “in this world of contested truths, and aggressive opinion, such a trusted source of analysis and pluralist deep thinking is sorely needed”.
While he was complimentary towards the broadcaster he took over in March, saying, “no other media organisation of substance stands up for Australian accents, values, plurality and aspirations which are planted firmly in, and dedicated to, this nation”, he also conceded the ABC had strayed from relevance in recent years.
“A starting point must be a greater understanding of the wants and behaviours of our audiences, and some tough assessments about whether we are fulfilling our audiences’ needs, interests and aspirations to the extent we should be,” he said, of rebuilding this relevance.
“How else can we be the reliable and compelling microphone and mirror to the nation?”
Elsewhere in the speech, Williams highlighted the ABC’s outsized role in “the precious territory of Children’s and Education programming”, calling the broadcaster “the major, invariably sole provider of a remarkable range of exceptional programming which provides unique Australian ballast against a tidal wave of non-Australian content which is consuming the minds and value sets of the young of this nation.”
Naturally, Williams also used the address as a call for more public funding.
“Of course, achieving our goals will also take something else. Something you have probably guessed. Investment,” he said.
“We all know greater investment will be needed. The ABC is an investment in Australia’s future because a revitalised ABC will be a source of great national strength.
“A great national campfire around which our stories can be told and can coalesce into a renovated national narrative about our future. A narrative able to draw all Australians a bit closer together to face up to and make sense of the disrupted times we are in. Such an investment will repay itself over and over and over again.
“I am confident that we, at the ABC, can make the case for it. The budgetary outlook is tight – however the rationale is plain.”
Williams also pointed towards the ABC’s increasing move towards digital and online services, as well as its failure to adapt for the “unforeseen and insufficiently contested consequences of digital technology which abounds around us”.
“Despite the best efforts of many in recent decades, it seems to me that the digital world has caused a fragmentation and dislocation of effort at the ABC that is failing to deliver what we need. It has altered the personality, chemistry and character of our national debates in sometimes, indeed often, negative ways. It is time for refreshed purpose.
“Our community and nation deserve better, renewed performance horizons.”
Reiterating the need for an ABC that is vital to the nation, Williams said: “The flow of advertising revenues to Google, Facebook and others has been relentless and devastating in its consequences: Our newspapers are thinner, our newsrooms sparser, our readers and viewers and listeners fewer, to our own Australian media.
“It’s no wonder that some have stated that the decline of commercial news has now reached a critical point and is now facing even more rapid decline.
“The devastation isn’t just about revenues and audiences. It has involved an assault on the moral resources that hold our society together. Including on the qualities good media organisations offer: objectivity and truth, without which democracy becomes impossible to sustain.”
Although Williams targeted ‘commercial news’ in the above passage, he doesn’t spare ABC, pointing out its own blind spots.
“There’s an unfortunate tendency for organisations like ours to indulge in an excess of self-congratulation. This often-times takes the place of robust assessment of underperformance. No one enjoys being critical, but well-run organisations must be honest about their performance. And if we’re honest, there are important areas for improvement.
“Therefore, I and my board colleagues believe strongly that the ABC must have a strong accountability framework that requires it to do better. We need to be tough-minded to achieve our goals and we need to measure performance reliably.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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@Nick Ross – corruption and vote rigging? By the ABC? Very curious to hear more about that.
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If he’s not going to address the corruption, election rigging the cover-ups of the past then he and the ABC are just as rotten as they’ve been for the past 15-odd years.
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