Technical Adviser and ABC Alumni Board member Peter Marks comments on the News Corp campaign against the ABC.

If you follow media stories about media in Australia, you’ll have noticed that there are a lot of stories about the ABC. A large proportion of stories about the ABC are critical. Here are some recent headlines:

• “Once highly trusted, the ABC is now rotten to the core” - John Storey, The Advertiser
• “Workplace ‘re-education’ hides culture of weakness” - Janet Albrechtsen, The Australian
• “Another day another crime you’ve never heard of, welcome to ABC breakfast” - Gerard Henderson, The Australian
• “Former ABC boss blasts Aunty” - James Morrow, The Advertiser
• “No wonder we're done with ABC” - John Storey, The Courier Mail
• “ABC boss will cost millions” - Angira Bharadwaj, The Courier Mail
• “NOW OR NEVER: TIME TO KNOCK ABC INTO SHAPE” - Chris Mitchell, The Australian
• “Ratings slide for our ABC” - The Daily Telegraph
• “‘Not an objective outlet’: There is ‘something in the water’ at ABC News” - Sky News

There are many more. It’s like this every day. MD David Anderson has rightly agreed that News Ltd is “obsessed” with the ABC.

What the stories have in common is that they are published in mastheads owned by Murdoch’s News Corporation. Some stories are created by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a conservative free market public policy think tank which has a stated policy to “Sell the ABC” (and thereby cut government funding).

IPA web site

But could a “news” corporation be running a campaign against the ABC? Surely not!

Surprisingly, News Corp Australia’s editorial code of conduct urges staff to “take reasonable steps to ensure reports are accurate and not misleading” but then says that “Publications are free to editorialise, campaign and take stances on issues…”

Read the code of conduct

News Corp Australia should perhaps be congratulated for their transparency in stating that they see part of their role is to take stances and run campaigns.

ABC TV’s Media Watch often points out examples of where News Corp Australia publications have breached their stated editorial policies, such as by not admitting errors, but on the campaign policy it’s clear they are delivering.

Constant public criticism of the work of journalists and content creators does wear people down and in an address to the Melbourne Press Club, ABC News Director Justin Stevens acknowledged that the scrutiny and accountability of the ABC is an important element in the fact that the ABC is the most trusted source of news by Australians.

He goes on to say “let’s be honest and call it what it often is: bullying – is about more than just the ABC. Spurious attacks on some journalists can potentially erode the reputation of all journalists. And that feeds the public's crisis of trust.”

There is an unfortunate flaw in the way the human mind works that we tend to believe things we have seen many times. We start to feel that “everyone is saying” something so it must be true.

The attention based algorithms in social media are designed to feed readers more of whatever they pay attention to so this amplifies disinformation campaigns.

Renowned ABC-hater, Tony Abbot, who cut the budget after promising not to, joined the board of Murdoch’s Fox Corporation in 2023 and is sure to use his influence.

In my opinion there is a disinformation campaign that seeks to defund, diminish trust and even shut down the ABC. It is perceived by competitors to be making it harder for them to profit from and dominate the news and they are campaigning to fix that. Consumers should be aware of this campaign and read and view it with scepticism.

Eric Beecher, in his excellent book The Men Who Killed the News notes that while a free press is a pillar of a healthy democracy, there is a loophole in that the press is not required to speak the truth.

Listen to an ABC podcast about the book

More than ever we need an ABC News service that presents factual news, avoids clickbait headlines, admits errors when they occur and doesn’t run campaigns.