EDITORIAL: Journalism, not activism must be Aunty’s focus

The departure of ABC managing director David Anderson won’t fix all of our national broadcaster’s problems. But it’s a start.

Anderson’s tenure has been a shambolic and embarrassing time for the ABC.

There was the sacking last year of the network’s highly regarded political editor Andrew Probyn during a sweeping restructure.

Those behind the restructure decided they could do without a political editor co-ordinating coverage from its Parliament House bureau.

Then there was the firestorm set off by the ABC’s chief political reporter Laura Tingle’s remark made at a writers festival that Australia was “a racist country”, which Anderson eventually conceded would not have met the ABC’s own editorial standards had it been made on one of the network’s platforms.

That, along with the embarrassing revelation that a crew from Four Corners had collaborated with climate extremists to film an attempt to storm the private home of Woodside boss Meg O’Neill are just two of the many examples of ABC journalists falling across the line into activism.

And there’s the consistent accusation of the Sydney-fication of the broadcaster’s operations, at the expense of its viewers and listeners in regional and rural areas.

The ABC is home to many excellent reporters. But their good work has been overshadowed during Anderson’s tenure by the dysfunction, polarising bias and obsession with the light and fluffy which have sent audiences diving for the remote.

That’s a fact that is unlikely to have escaped ABC board chairman Kim Williams.

Former Foxtel executive Williams was on Thursday effusive in his eulogy of Anderson, who leaves just a year into a second five-year term as managing director.

“David Anderson is a loyal, devoted and talented ABC executive. He has served the corporation in the best tradition of committed public service over a long period.

“I have to say my admiration for him and his commitment to the ABC is undiminished and my respect grows ever greater. He is an exemplary executive in many ways.”

To drive home the point that there was no ill-will between the pair, Anderson said he had accepted Williams’ request for him to stay on until a replacement is found, likely sometime early next year.

Perhaps the love-in is genuine.

But it should be remembered that it was Williams, during his own jump-or-be-pushed “resignation” from News Corp a decade ago, who introduced the crass but unforgettable term “grin f...king” into the Australian lexicon. In Williams’ own words, that’s when you “nod your head and grin, then walk away and f...k me over”.

If that is indeed what has occurred here, Williams is to be applauded for taking the first step in fixing the deep flaws that run through our public broadcaster.

Australians pay handsomely through public funding for their national broadcaster and deserve impartial, quality news in return.

At the moment, that’s not what they have been getting.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by WAN Editor Christopher Dore.