Carol Stuart
The value and future of public broadcasting came under close examination in Canberra on Wednesday night, at an event hosted by the Parliamentary Friends of the ABC, in association with ABC Friends.
Cassandra Parkinson (ABCF National President) addresses the meeting
More than seventy Friends and members of Parliament gathered to hear Chair of the ABC, Kim Williams AM, award-winning freelance journalist and author, Dr Margaret Simons, and ABC presenter Tony Jones, discuss the role of public broadcasting and how we can ensure its future.
Kim Williams told the gathering that the ABC was Australia’s core line of defense against misinformation and disinformation.
He said the issue of how we respond to the malicious nature and profound consequences of disinformation in particular has become an issue of national sovereignty.
“The ABC plays an important role in responding to misinformation and disinformation,” Mr Williams said. “The best antidote is the truth.’
The ABC has a responsibility to make sure Australians know their stories and maintain vital links between regional and metropolitan Australians.
It is also fundamental to tell Australian stories, in Australian accents, and to give Australian children access to programs portraying Australian values.
Dr Simons said that the ABC’s own research and independent reports consistently showed that public broadcasters are the most trusted media organisations by a long way.
She said they are most trusted for a number of reasons including, their evident seriousness of purpose, the relative lack of sensationalism and ‘that unfashionable thing’, objectivity.
“After the last week or so, many people are asking whether our political trajectory will be different from that of the USA,” Dr Simons said.
“If the answer is ‘’yes” then I think there will be four reasons for the difference:
- Compulsory voting – a moderating force
- The AEC – which runs elections efficiently and with integrity and public trust – which we take for granted. Events in the USA and elsewhere show us we should not.
- Preferential voting – another moderating force
- The ABC, and public broadcasting, or public service media.”
Dr Simons said the benefits of public journalism, like many public things, public health, public housing, are hard to prove.
“Nevertheless, there is evidence that a healthier democracy and public life is correlated with healthy public service media,” she said.
She pointed to various studies, which she said are not without flaws and limitations, and correlation is not causation.
“With some reservations I think they make the case for the democratic importance of public service media.”
ABC Friends followed the Parliamentary Friends event with some visits to senior politicians, as part of our pre-election lobbying campaign for a stronger, fearless, independent ABC.
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