We should let ABC presenters declare their progressive allegiances

This was not an outbreak of common sense. Nor was it a welcome or long-awaited attempt by Aunty to counter left-wing bias.

Rather, it was an unfair rebuke to Melbourne morning radio host Jon Faine and a manifestation of why confronting ABC groupthink is like wrestling with smoke.

The unrealistic standard of impartiality applied to ABC presenters such as Faine is the problem, not the solution. Faine was officially sanctioned for an honest and forthright exposition of a valid point of view - his.

As The Australian reported last week, the ABC admonished Faine and apologised for the "lapse in standards" he demonstrated in two November interviews about the AWU slush fund affair.

"Audience and Consumer Affairs have concluded that the interviews were not conducted in keeping with ABC impartiality requirements," said the ABC's response to a complaint.

Faine was found to have breached standard 4.1 of the ABC code of practice, which says: "Gather and present news and information with due impartiality."

The interviews in question certainly displayed a tendentious attitude to the AWU story. But it was a viewpoint on the story that is not uncommon; in fact it is precisely the line on this issue enunciated repeatedly by the Prime Minister, Labor MPs and many like-minded commentators.

Faine put his view stridently, robustly challenging his guests. Gillard and ALP supporters would have loved it. It was such a striking defence that this newspaper's Cut & Paste published large slabs of transcript.

Introducing former 2UE broadcaster Michael Smith - who lost his job over his preoccupation with the AWU slush fund story and has pursued it assiduously since through his blog - Faine didn't hide his disdain.

"Well, you're between a rock and hard place, aren't you?" posed Faine. "There's a story swirling around that refuses to go away, if we talk about it we're giving it oxygen, if we don't talk about we're accused of being engaged in a cover-up ... Michael Smith, good morning and welcome to an ABC radio show."

"Thank you very much," said Smith, "it's lovely to have me on your show."

"Well, I'm not sure, really, but let's see," retorted the ABC host. "I don't know how much time you think we're going to spend on this, but it may not be as much as you'd like."

Later, interviewing the editor-at-large of The Age who was also pursuing the AWU story, a frustrated Faine declared: "I'm sorry, I might be as thick as bricks, or it might be something else is going on. I just don't understand why so many people are still writing about this when there is nothing of substance to be reported.

"I don't get it. I don't see where the story is."

So an ABC broadcaster was supporting the ALP line. Hold the presses.

While Faine made no attempt to hide his personal views, surely he was being fair and honest to his listeners by inviting on to his program leading proponents of an alternative perspective. And he attempted - however sharply - to elicit their best arguments.

To my mind, Faine's approach to the AWU issue is wrong-headed - a remarkably incurious attitude for a political interviewer. But it is a legitimate opinion.

Radio, especially publicly funded radio, ought be a contest of ideas. And, to be sure, this was good radio. It was informative, demonstrably honest, and fair. Listeners knew where everyone stood.

While on one level Faine might be just another ABC presenter sympathetic to the Left, he should be congratulated for being prepared to reveal himself to listeners, who, unsurprisingly enough, are smart enough to make up their own minds.

This should be a strength for an ABC broadcaster.

Instead, the prevailing culture is for presenters to mask their personal views or share them in a more insidious fashion.

Importantly, it seems this culture is brought about not by a desire to subvert the code of practice but to comply with it.

The impartiality rule is undeniably important for news and current affairs journalists. Even habitual ABC critics like me would agree that in the main, especially in news, there are genuine efforts to uphold it.

However, to demand impartiality from radio and television hosts who continually share analysis and opinion on the issues of the day is impractical, and in the end, less than fair dinkum.

The overall political culture of the ABC tends to be reflected most often through its presenters. Whether it is Leigh Sales bristling with antagonism towards Tony Abbott but chatting warmly with Gillard, or Barrie Cassidy dismissing the AWU story less overtly but just as effectively as Faine, or Robyn Williams drawing parallels between climate scepticism and pedophilia - the bent of presenters is discernible to the audience.

Yet those same audiences are treated to a pointless pretence that somehow the ABC is populated by a clutch of political eunuchs.

If program presenters, especially on talkback radio where listeners can respond instantly on air, were freed from this farce there would be no escalation of bias or groupthink.

More likely, it would pay a dividend in plurality.

If the ABC and its presenters were open about their opinions, there would be an immediate need for a greater variety of voices in order to comply with the ABC's charter commitment to diversity.

Wall-to-wall socially progressive, economically interventionist, internationally multilateralist, environmentally activist and fundamentally unionist presenters simply wouldn't cut it. We might just get some variety instead.

If ABC hosts shared their progressive predilections there would likely be two consequences: their relationship with their audiences would be more open and honest.

And there would be justifiable pressure on the ABC to ensure some presenters and programmers might reflect differing perspectives.

This is the rubicon ABC management should cross. But we can see why it might resist.

If it were to admit that Faine's interviews were a robust and reasonable exchange from which their listeners could only benefit, then it would have no argument against finding an open microphone elsewhere for other voices.

Former 2UE host Smith is probably not expecting a call.