Balding’s failure

Under Russell Balding, the national broadcaster reflected the opinions of some staff and their ideological allies

While ABC mandarins manoeuvring for opulent offices may notice the resignation of Russell Balding, chances are that few other staff will notice, or care, that the managing director is going. Because for all of his four years in the top job, Mr Balding did not interfere with the way the keepers of the corporate culture ran the ABC – like a student newspaper, selective in its stories, blatant in its bias and utterly opinionated in who its programs should appeal to. Mr Balding failed to ensure the corporation acted according to its charter, which requires it to provide "a balance between broadcasting programs of wide appeal and specialised broadcasting programs". That′s because when it comes to entertaining and analysing, the ABC is run by some staff – for themselves and their mates. This is a very small group and they are utterly unconnected to the vast mass of Australians, especially members of the traditional ABC audience who look to the broadcaster for high-quality local and imported entertainment and unbiased analysis.

Consider the evidence. The ABC has abandoned new Australian drama. Only 11 hours – 11 hours! – were broadcast last year. Certainly, ABC apologists argue this is because of inadequate federal funding. Fair enough. But look what Sandra Levy, until recently the corporation′s TV chief, chose to screen instead. There are quizzes and contests. They are followed by chat shows where inner-city comedians sneer at everybody who does not support gay marriage and oppose genetically modified agriculture. And while the ABC now hails Kath and Kim, remember that many among the tastemakers in the corporation fought tooth and nail to stop it screening. As an example of how out of touch ABC executives are from what interests and amuses ordinary Australians, that is hard to beat. But the performance of ABC radio does it. Many metropolitan stations are in the hands of 40-something announcers obsessed with their inner-city leftie lifestyles. And woe betide any broadcaster who dares dispute their orthodoxies. In Sydney, Sally Loane was driven from the microphone last year, apparently for the high crime of attracting a diverse audience rather than rating with the people her bosses socialise with. It is the same in current affairs broadcasting, where the agenda is set not by the big stories that affect the Labor and Liberal parties but by the opinions of presenters on issues that fascinate them. The focus on gender issues, the environment, immigration, the rights of all minorities, but especially asylum-seekers, is all-consuming. It is not that the current affairs agenda is anti-Coalition; ten years ago, ABC commentators were sneering and snarling at Labor ministers. Rather, ABC broadcasters use their programs to score points on issues closer to the heart of Bob Brown than those of their listeners. Thus Tony Jones, who seems to mistake the television program Lateline for parliamentary question time, hammers away at hapless ministers about the needs of Cornelia Rau and the fate of David Hicks, while appearing less interested in the issues that matter to the vast majority of voters: health and education, employment and tax.

That Mr Balding declined to attend Senate estimates this year demonstrates the ABC′s ingrained contempt for government, and how the managing director seemed to prefer placating his staff to explaining his organisation to senators. Mr Balding is not entirely to blame for the way the ABC is held to ransom by its staff. His predecessor, Jonathan Shier, failed to clean out the collective and succumbed to his own eccentric management style. Nor does it look as if Mr Balding was ever encouraged to take control of the organisation. John Howard has sought to stack the board with conservatives, notably anthropologist Ron Brunton and Janet Albrechtsen, a commentator for this newspaper. But under chairman Donald McDonald the board has never demonstrated anything other than a desire to surrender to the staff. And while former long-serving communications minister Richard Alston used to talk tough about the ABC, his complaints were shrill and ill thought-out. Between them, they were never game to try to change the corporation′s culture. It does not have to be this way. The ABC′s well-organised online service and the community information function met by regional radio demonstrate what an asset the broadcaster can be when it tries. But the ABC will never fulfil its function to inform and entertain all Australians while its agenda is set by staff who will brook no ideas other than their own. The new managing director must take them on by avoiding Mr Balding′s fundamental error: despite his title, he may have managed but he never directed the ABC.