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ABC should lose international TV channel

  • 02 February 2014

Those who understand the role of public service broadcasting in a democracy have dismissed as absurd Prime Minister Tony Abbott's accusation that the ABC is unpatriotic. 

Speaking to Ray Hadley on commercial radio station 2GB, Abbott criticised the ABC's coverage of news stories relating to Indonesian spying leaks and asylum seeker abuse claims. He said: 'A lot of people feel at the moment that the ABC instinctively takes everyone's side but Australia's.'

Even the Government's own Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull dismissed the comment when speaking to Leigh Sales on 7.30. 

There is nothing in [the ABC Charter] that says that it should be nationalistic. The big issue, Leigh, is accuracy and balance and this is where you as a broadcaster and the ABC have got a very different role to, say, a talkback host on commercial radio 'cause you have to be — you are bound to be balanced and objective, accurate and fair.

Turnbull should make a fine Communications Minister if he is able to impress upon the Prime Minister this grasp of the essentials of public service broadcasting, which has nothing to do with patriotism or nationalism. 

Far from it in fact. Being patriotic is about selling a nation's positive self-image within and beyond its borders. Like selling in general, it gives priority to persuasion and good feeling over truth and a balanced perspective. 

But it can be electorally rewarding for a government to have voters deluded into knowing only what is good about their nation and their government's performance. They are shielded from knowledge of ugly realities such as the country's shameful treatment of asylum seekers. Media manipulation is a successful strategy of leaders of pariah states such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, who manages to remain relatively popular despite his appalling record of service to the people. 

If patriotism took hold of our public service media, we'd need to resort to foreign media to discover unpalatable truths about our country such as the living conditions of Indigenous Australians. Already we sometimes learn from foreign media hard truths about our nation that are ignored or glossed over by our own media. 

Unfortunately the ABC has muddied its own waters with its pursuit of the non-core activity of running the Government's Australia Network international television service. The network's role is described as 'soft diplomacy' on Australia's behalf, and its mission is precisely patriotism. There is no mention of truth, accuracy and balance on the 'about us' page
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