Strangling Aunty: Perilous Times for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Strangling Aunty: Perilous Times for the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation
“In her lament for a sadly diminished national icon, Dr Small describes how in this
digital world, the ABC “has left the private box and joined the mosh pit”. How
“opinion has not only infiltrated fact in news, raised voices drown out ‘old’ stan-
dards of ethics, knowledge and probity”. She blames the broadcaster’s declining
audiences on poor leadership and squandered cultural capital, not politicians or
media rivals. Required reading for ABC friends, politicians and, all media students.”
—Maurice Newman AC, former Chairman, Australian
Broadcasting Corporation
“In this engrossing and comprehensive volume, Dr Small uses Pierre Bourdieu’s
theories to show that Australia’s premier public broadcaster, the ABC, has been
more effective in holding power to account when it controls its own élite field
because that’s where it has legitimate authority. She argues for a more empowered,
nuanced and proactive mindset to meet the needs of a world seeking neutrality and
fact. It’s an urgently needed book.”
—Dr John Cokley, CQUniversityVirginia Small
Strangling Aunty:
Perilous Times for the
Australian
Broadcasting
CorporationVirginia Small University of New South Wales Australian Defence Force Academy Canberra, NSW, Australia ISBN 978-981-16-0775-2 ISBN 978-981-16-0776-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0776-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Richard Milnes / Alamy Stock Photo This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore
Acknowledgements
Gratitude for the extraordinarily generous and sustaining inspiration from
Dr James Warn, Hamish Conroy, Edward Conroy and Patrick Conroy.
Louise Kaktin ̧š and Leon de Bord, thank you.
To the University of New South Wales Canberra, Australian Defence
Force Academy (ADFA) School of Business for ongoing support and
encouragement, especially former Head of School Professor Michael
O’Donnell and Professor of Finance and Deputy Head (Research)
Satish Chand.
Thank you to the reviewers Maurice Newman AC and Dr John Cokley,
as well as Palgrave Macmillan’s anonymous reviewer, for their invaluable
feedback and perspicacious observations.
And finally, the generous time, insights and reflection by senior
Australian politicians, former ABC senior leaders and former ABC senior
staff who agreed to be interviewed for this research. Their confidential
contributions are respected and highly appreciated.
This book is dedicated to my father the late Lloyd Small, an ABC audi-
ence member, true to the end.
Valerie Small, valete (2020) to my precious mother; and to Marion
Edwards (2020), my irreplaceable Aunty.
vContents
1 Institutional Frameworks and Losing the Field 1
2 Managing the ABC 119
3 The ABC: Service for Funding 219
4 What Ideas Rule? A Decline Towards “pop and pap” or a
“duty to serve”? 457
5 Losing the Brand in the Australian Media Landscape 621
6 Political Influences on the ABC: The Loss of the Greater
Good 791
7 Future Options 897
References985
Index1097
viiAbout the Author
Virginia Small is a visiting fellow at the School of Business at UNSW
ADFA, Canberra, and has worked at the ABC for over 18 years in a variety
of broadcasting roles. Prior to that she was also a finance journalist at the
Sydney Morning Herald and a money market reporter at Australian
Associated Press. At the ABC she was a respected newsreader and econom-
ics journalist and produced and presented a high-rating business program
on Radio National. As a news broadcaster and journalist, she gained a day-
to-day insight into the goings-on of the ABC and the changes of manage-
ment and its impact. She has a doctoral degree in communication, a
master’s degree in professional communication and a master’s in literature.
ixList of Images
Image 1.1 The ABC takes the field (literally): Sporting announcer
Talbot Duckmanton standing (with technician
Stanley Bancroft seated) providing radio commentary from a
Sydney golf course, c. late 1940s. From this relatively simple
start, the ABC developed a pivotal role in presenting sports
to Australians. Duckmanton became General Manager of the
ABC from 1965–1982. Bancroft retired as ABC Supervisor
Radio Operation, NSW in 1974 after 50 years’ service. Both
men’s suited attire, while a reflection of the times, also
expressed how the institution valued unseen radio. Image
courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: C1748,
L1732121
Image 1.2 The ABC Lissajous (far right) in a sticker made by Friends of
the ABC on a light pole in a Canberra public carpark. It
shows how the ABC has been appropriated as an endangered
“animal” (icon), along with the Australian animals the
platypus (far left) and koala (middle). All have been
anthropomorphised with mournful eyes and the stark
dissimilarities between a national institution and national
fauna overlooked to press the link between the ABC and
Australian identity—the space of shared habitus between the
three. Photo: Virginia Small 76
xixii List of Images
Image 2.1 World renowned conductor, (Charles) Dean Dixon,
appointed permanent conductor of the Sydney
Symphonic (later Symphony) Orchestra in 1964. Dixon was
the third conductor in the history of the orchestra and his
engagement with the SSO ended in 1967. Dixon had
also conducted the New York Philharmonic. Australian News
& Information Bureau. 1963. Courtesy National Archives of
Australia. Personalities—The ABC appointed Mr Dean Dixon
as the permanent conductor of the Sydney Symphonic
Orchestra. Principal Credit: Australian News & Information
Bureau. 1963. Series: A1200, L43222. Item ID: 30672627.
Canberra140
Image 3.1 “The ABC stands corrected.” Cartoon by Andrew Dyson,
The Age. Fairfax Photos. Nine. Published 17 October 2006.
Re-printed with permission from the artist. The cartoon was
published in the same edition of The Age (Melbourne) in
which the then Managing Director, Mark Scott, had written
an article: “Stamping out bias at the ABC” on changes that
were to be implemented to improve its “editorial health”
(ibid.). The characters depicted in the cartoon are the two
main characters (B1 and B2) from the popular
ABC children’s television program “Bananas in Pyjamas” 228
Image 4.1 “Tex arcana: The man in black and the ring of fire.” Cartoon
by Johannes Leak, The Australian. Published 3 January
2020. Reprinted with permission from the artist. This
cartoon referred to the ABC’s 2019-2020 New Year’s Eve
concert in Sydney 517
Image 5.1 Four Corners’ Michael Charlton interviews Sir Douglas
Copland, a delegate of the 1963 Australian Citizenship
Convention from 4–7 June 1963, in Canberra. Courtesy of the
National Archives of Australia. Immigration—Citizenship
Convention. Almost 300 delegates attended the 1963
Australian Citizenship Convention from 4–7 June in Canberra.
The Convention was officially opened by the Prime Minister,
Sir Robert Menzies, and the Minister for Immigration,
Alexander Downer, gave a report to delegates on Immigration
developments and trends during 1962–1963. The Australian
Broadcasting Commission gave a comprehensive coverage of
the Convention of the television program “Four Corners”,
presented nationally on ABC television. Here the compere,
Michael Charlton, interviews Sir Douglas Copland, one of the
Convention Delegates. 1963. Series: A12111,
1/1963/11/15. Item ID: 8278160. Canberra 628List of Images xiii
Image 6.1 Dame Enid Lyons, federal politician and ABC board member
1951–1962. Photographer: Athol Smith, F.R.P.S Melbourne.
1950. Courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. ABC
publicity photos. Item 3062, series SP1011/1. Item ID
5410755. Sydney 802
Image 7.1 Lord Mayor of Sydney, Alderman Harry Jensen, showing
artwork in his Sydney Town Hall office to VD Madgulkar
(All India Radio, Poona) right, and Abu Bakar bin Ahmad
(Brunei Radio), left, participants in a three months’ rural
broadcasting course in 1960. It was organised by the ABC
under the Federal Government’s Colombo Plan. Courtesy of
the National Archives of Australia. Photographer, John
Tanner. 1960. Series: A1501, A2456/3. Item ID: 8890053.
Canberra940List of Tables
Table 1.1 Charter of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Section
6 of ABC Act 1983). Available at: https://www.legislation.
gov.au/Details/C2018C0007970
Table 3.1 Summary corpus of analysis in ABC coverage of Pell case 285
Table 3.2 ABC News and views reports authorship 300
Table 3.3 Corpus analysis 322
Table 4.1 Australian Broadcasting Corporation Editorial Policies.
(2014). 7 HARM AND OFFENCE. 9 October 2014.
ABC. Retrieved from Https://Edpols.Abc.Net.Au/
Policies/7-Harm-And-Offence/ 469
Table 4.2 Exalted Digital. (2019). Social media statistics.
World + Australia. Retrieved from: https://www.
exalteddigital.com/social-media-statistics-world-australia/ 483
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