Opinion: Major contractions in Australian newsrooms represent a shrinkage in our ability to know ourselves as a nation
there are no cuts. Announced in 2018, a pause in the indexation of the ABC’s funding has reduced the budget by $84 million over three years and resulted in an ongoing reduction of $41 million a year from next year. This is on top of $64 million of ongoing cuts imposed in 2014. Operational funding will be more than 10 per cent lower in 2021-22 than it was in 2013.
The ABC, of course, is more than its journalism, and journalism is much more than the ABC. But repeated surveys confirm that the ABC is Australia’s most trusted news source – and it is also one of, if not the, biggest employers of journalists. It is a massively imperfect institution, but it offers an opportunity for a different, and better, trajectory than the fractured politics of the USA.
The ABC’s five-year plan, also released this week, is effectively the broadcaster’s response to Tonagh, and its message to the taxpayers about how it will manage. It is a disappointingly thin document – just 46 pages including pictures and appendices – but it included some clear priorities, with one of them being to shift to delivering “personalised digital experiences”. This is part of the context for canning the iconic 7.45 am radio news bulletin.
The Tonagh review also recommended a refocussing of the ABC and SBS on charter activities – hence recommended cuts to lifestyle journalism at the ABC, the five-year plan largely adopts that approach, but has responded to the suggestion of cutting channels by effectively saying “maybe, but not yet”. The ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry last year recommended a range of measures, including direct grants for rural and regional publications – which the government has acted on. More is needed.
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