Friends of the ABC are always braying that the ABC does not get enough money. They should be asking what is it being spent on? And call for the CEO, Mark Scott to be sacked as the man in charge of the deterioration, which extends to allowing racism.
Racism on the poitically correct ABC? How about a panel member sporting a white T-shirt with large black lettering across the front 'BLACK MEN MAKE ME NERVOUS'? Wouldn't you, and certainly black people, feel that was racist?
No, exactly that didn't happen. What did happen that a panellist on the Gruen Transfer wore a black T-shirt with large white lettering across the front 'WHITE MEN MAKE ME NERVOUS. That's OK by the editing team of this unscripted show. This one-sided racism illustrates what is wrong with the ABC, home of the "progressives'.
‘Setting the agenda’ seems to be one of Scott’s themes. It leaves one with an uneasy feeling. Whose agenda? That of the ‘progressive’ mindset of ABC staff?
The ABC has set up a 24 hour news service which is like the NBN, an expensive exercise which few need or want. Those on Foxtel can get Sky News, those with modest computer ability can get updates from many sources. All major newspapers now run constant updates on their websites. The ABC could have opted for news updates on the hour, every hour, displacing the tedious promos. And The Drum? More expense. The vey name suggests the ABC agenda marching forward.
And so the ABC has to slash spending on on what should be their mainstream.
The ABC appears to have decided that chasing ratings is their mission and the way to do this is to be tasteless and crass, of which the commercial channels already provide plenty. Going is ABC promotion of the arts and minority interests. Gone are the civilized interviews (Talking Heads), quirky topics with intellectual merit, (Collectors and Inventors) and arts shows. Lawn bowls and VFL football are to dumped. Collectors has now been replaced by a revival of a not very funny BBC show with the same, now tired, formula.
The programs have degenerated.
We have had Rake, which promoted, among other deviations, bestiality (as long as the animal enjoys it, a la ‘progressive’ PC), but at least had some pretensions to class. Then we have Crownies, a sex show glued together by the participants working in a legal group. One might cry out ‘get a life outside work’.There is no doubt about the sex sells motive; $600,000 was spent on advertising that major theme. The show is now being shifted to a later night spot, where it belongs, if anywhere.
Now we have at Home with Julia. Whatever one thinks about Gillard’s policies, she is Prime Minister and the holder of the office demands some respect. The show is demeaning, no public figure should have their personal relationships portrayed in this manner.
Traditionalists like John Howard and the Coalition backbench have expressed strong disapproval. The ALP has been understandably maintaining a dignified silence, hoping that it will go away. The Greens are silent, because as Gerard Henderson has pointed out, they do not feature. The Greens are a natural target for satire with their mishmash of policies, but they are a protected species in the ‘progressive’ environment of the ABC. But Gillard, who is taking a tough line on queue jumping asylum seekers, is not a favourite any more.
Apart from the subject the quality is undergraduate skit, impersonation can carry a show just so far. There is one good joke, Gillard calling her pet dog Billy Shorten, which could live on. The Max Gillies impersonations of Howard and Hawke were real political satire. And Gillies didn’t delve into personal lives.
editor@independentaustralian.com.au
The mindset of the ABC was shown when there was a cry of censorship, when the Royal family refused to allow the Chasers to run a commentary on the wedding video of Prince William. After all, the Chaser said all it wished to do, was to make a few jokes about his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh. Knowing the Chaser style, how would you like that if it was your wedding video? If free speech came into it, the Chaser could have produced their own mockumentary.
The current controversy about whether shows should be produced internally or purchased from independent producers is irrelevant to standards. In the end the ABC is responsible for airing a show.
Sacking the CEO would be good start to restoring the ABC to an institution that commands respect and deserves taxpayers’ money. There is no need for copy cat commercial TV.
Comment: editor@independentaustralian.com.au