Defund the ABC

[pmccarthy]

Defund it means shut it down. I never thought to say that but here I am.

Twenty years ago I relied totally on the ABC for my news, and listened to it for two hours a day during my commute. Ten years ago I relied on the ABC website and TV news. A couple of years ago I watched shows on ABC Iview. Now I do none of those - there is nothing worth listening to, reading or watching. 
What's more, I don’t trust anything that the ABC provides.

Shut it down.

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, pmccarthy said:

Shut it down.

That would be tipping the baby out with the bath water.

 

What the ABC needs is a major overhaul. You have to remember that the ABC plays many important roles in the community. Also, its radio transmissions are often the only frequencies that can be received in rural areas. 

 

I agree that it's news department could go back to reporting, not opinionating. However, the ABC is probably acting to meet the desires of a different population than that which we older people grew up with. That's why its website and TV news formats don't appeal. I don't like how it tends to pander to minorities, a practice which promotes division within the community. As for its drama, the last two TV dramas, Bay of Fires and Return to Paradise were crap. 

[spacesailor]

" pander to minorities " 

" the voice " .

Nearly all the internet sites & a lot of companies have the ' please those minorities '

for their existence , in the " minorities land '' .

spacesailor

 

Edited December 3 by spacesailor
Word changed

[Marty_d]

Absolute BS.

 

The ABC is the only unbiased news service in the country.

 

If you think the Merde Och press will give actual news, I've got a good bridge in Sydney that I'm willing to sell you.

[old man emu]

1 minute ago, Marty_d said:

The ABC is the only unbiased news service in the country.

I suppose that if the ABC doesn't have programs presented by opinion makers, then you could say that it is unbiased. Unfortunately, since it dares to present the story from the other side of the fence, then the commercial media with its agenda will attack anything that the ABC does that is different. 

 

Actually, if the ABC stopped all reporting of political matters, but maintained the rest of its activities, then the commercial media would not have anything to harp on about. 

[Marty_d]

Quick scan of the lead stories in 2 news sites right now.

 

ABC: Serious news about world affairs, the economy, court cases, scams, etc.

 

News.com.au: gang rapist whinging about prison life, society fluff (Beckhams vs Meghan), Australians "frothing" over flattering summer dress, some other celebrity "wows in revealing see-through dress". (Just in case you weren't aware that see through was revealing.)

 

And you want to defund the ABC.

[willedoo]

12 minutes ago, Marty_d said:

Quick scan of the lead stories in 2 news sites right now.

 

ABC: Serious news about world affairs, the economy, court cases, scams, etc.

 

News.com.au: gang rapist whinging about prison life, society fluff (Beckhams vs Meghan), Australians "frothing" over flattering summer dress, some other celebrity "wows in revealing see-through dress". (Just in case you weren't aware that see through was revealing.)

 

And you want to defund the ABC.

Marty, I've noticed news.com.au has undergone quite a big change lately. Once it was probably one of the more readable Murdoch outlets but lately they seem to have adopted a different business model and are mainly running clickbait headlines with trashy tabloid style articles. I like them for the comedy appeal. I click on the clickbait just for the fun of seeing the real story. As a made up example, the sort of thing they do is run a headline like " Star reveals sad news". Click on the article and it will be some barely known soap opera actor revealing his mother in law has to get a wisdom tooth removed. Stuff like that and trying to invent royal family scandal. Once they were more interested in news but money making clickbait now rules. Perhaps they've had editorial change or following directives of parent companies to make more money.

[Litespeed]

Leave Aunty alone

[Jerry_Atrick]

I use ABCs Android app mostly, and it is fine. I just got on their website and it seems OK to me.. they use some more contemporary icons for functions... but I can find what I want and discard wha I don't want easily;  the blog format is familiar.

 

Ther are the most scrutinised news organisation in Australia. They do occasionally get it wrong but, despite being run by a media icon who may align more with commercial interests, if all our news sources were held to the same account, IMHO, the world would be a better place.

 

11 hours ago, pmccarthy said:

there is nothing worth listening to, reading or watching. 
What's more, I don’t trust anything that the ABC provides.

You're welcome to your opinion. My experience is that they provide an important source of less biased news and balance against other sources that do the bidding of large and mostly foreign corporations buying our pollies and government.. also the standsrd of language is far better than many others. So I would increase their funding and institute a press regulator with teeth to cover all press organisations.

 

Out of interest- what news organisations do you trust?

 

Edited December 4 by Jerry_Atrick

[Litespeed]

Bring back Aunty Jack to deal with the Murdoch press...

 

Rip their bloody arms orf.

[facthunter]

IF we do the exact opposite of what Merdey, wants we will be fine. Newscorpse has always been 100% self interest. IF you keep reading and listening to his stuff you will be in a BAD place, Head wise.  Nev

[pmccarthy]

I trust the BBC and look up their news app a couple of times each day. I listen to their podcasts like Newscast, Americast, Ukrainecast. And others. They are also biased but provide balanced choice of content.

[onetrack]

I like reading the ABC news, it's free, doesn't require a subscription that once you pay for, you find you're struggling to cancel it - and the bulk of their articles are newsworthy and reasonably accurate.

Yes, they support minorities and other colours beside white, but I can live with that, and I can ignore the articles about minorities in which I have no interest.

 

Meantimes, the privately owned media is full of ads, clickbait headlines, generally useless entertainment crap, and they want you to pay to look at it!!  Never in a million years!!!

[old man emu]

Mum gets the Sunday Telegraph. She's a keen follower of horse racing, so she removes the Punter section for herself. She takes out the "magazine" inserts to send down to the staff meal room for the carers to read. She sends the sport section to another resident. That leaves the 'news' section which I grab after she has read it. It only takes a short time to read the 'news' section as the majority of pages contain ads for Harvey Norman and some homewares mob. Then there is the Right Wing drivel and stories about the multi-million dollar real estate dealings of celebrities. After that there are the social scene reports.

 

What a waste of ink and paper!

[spacesailor]

" a waste of ink " .

We used to use that ' news-print ' as our toilet paper .

Super useful ! .

spacesailor

[facthunter]

You could ruin the "Hole of your body" and block the dunny as well.  Nev

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

block the dunny as well.

Not if it was a pan, or it was a long drop.

 

 

[willedoo]

The ABC radio has a lot of good points. For one, it's the only reliable source of emergency information on the air waves. A lot of the shows are good as well. The Country Hour just had it's 79th. birthday a couple of days ago. It's only downside is Macca and Roy and HG, but there's always ABC news radio to switch to while those clowns are on. Bad choice of words, clowns are a lot funnier. Macca has a huge cult following and the consequent ratings giving him a permanent spot. His show is not too bad when he goes on annual holidays and someone else takes over. That Trevor Chappell bloke (not the cricket player) did a good job filling in but watching drying paint is less boring than Macca.

 

Another plus for sports lovers is Grandstand on the weekend. Not all NRL games are televised but they are covered on ABC radio. Plenty of cricket if that's your thing as well.

[pmccarthy]

Agreed there are good bits of the ABC and it would be great to see them kept together and properly funded. Perhaps new leadership could save it.

[facthunter]

Ita did Nothing. Ken Williams has the experience even if he is Ex Murdoch. Nearly everyone in the business works for Murdoch OR has or will. . Nev

[willedoo]

ABC radio is a fairly broad church. It's mostly the local ABC radio but on some holidays they tap into radio from other states while the local staff have a break. It's good to listen to as background while working. No ads, a lot of talkback and interaction with listeners, news breaks and a minimum of music. On weekends when those previously mentioned people I don't like listening to come on, I switch to ABC news radio. Parts of it are ok. When they run BBC segments some are good and others can get a bit too arty-farty for my liking. A few twits on there but mostly good.

 

When I used to operate machinery I found the ABC radio relaxing to listen to while working. Commercial radio wasn't compatible in a machine.

[old man emu]

If I want background noise while I'm working on the reno, I listen to ABC Classical, but when I'm driving I like to listen to the conversations. I don't like listening to News Radio - news nowadays is too depressing. I also like listening to the cricket since the ABC commentators don't talk statistics between each ball and over. Listening to the ABC commentary is like going to the cricket for a day out with your mates. 

[willedoo]

2 hours ago, old man emu said:

Listening to the ABC commentary is like going to the cricket for a day out with your mates. 

Their commentary is good. I don't really like cricket but enjoy listening to the ABC commentary if that makes any sense.

[nomadpete]

The simple fact that our ABC is not a government propaganda mouthpiece, makes it unique.

The fact that all political parties try to call it 'biased' against them, confirms that it isn't. Or at worst, isn't much.

 

Priceless!

 

 

[facthunter]

Elon Hasn't got a CLUE about what the ABC is. It's INVESTIGATIVE to start with. Pravda would NOT last long doing that.. Silvio Berlusconi had both the state TV and all the Private ones under his control.  MUSK gets unlimited exposure by BUYING Twitter and  moulding it to HIS WISHES.  Man-Boy has too many TOYS.   Nev