ABC managing director Mark Scott has addressed staff on his recent cuts to programs and jobs, telling them he understands their disappointment.
After an outpouring of dismay from staff and the public about the cancellation of New Inventors, Art Nation and some local sport broadcasts, Mr Scott was moved to write a lengthy letter of explanation to employees today.
“Some colleagues have contacted me in recent days about decisions we have made regarding the television schedule and our resources base,” Mr Scott said.
“Finite resources mean we have to constantly make decisions about the best way to use funding to meet our Charter obligations and engage with audiences.”
Mr Scott also signalled there were more cuts to the ABC schedule to come.
“In television, we have announced the end of New Inventors and Art Nation for the 2012 calendar year, made some adjustments to sports programming and are looking at other elements of the schedule as part of our commitment to deliver, later in the year, a television production strategy for the next three to five years,” Mr Scott said.
He said he had to work within budgets and remain relevant and “the media organisations most threatened in this dramatically changing media landscape are those that stand still”.Mr Scott repeated his commitment to a mixed model of internal and external production and said many of the corporation’s most popular and distinctive programs on television were co-productions including The Gruen Transfer and Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight, Paper Giants, Rake, Angry Boys and Laid.
“There are a number of reasons why the ABC does co-productions. In particular, it allows us to deliver more programming by making a smaller financial contribution to the shows we air than if we funded 100 per cent of the budgets,” he said. “Importantly, in commissioning co-productions, we exercise strong editorial oversight to ensure these productions meet our Charter and conform to ABC editorial standards.
Later today the ABC section of the Community and Public Sector Union, on behalf of staff, wrote back to Mr Scott.
Union secretary Graeme Thomson said staff were supportive of many issues but they are extremely frustrated by the on-going dismantling of ABC production.
“The problem is that when the best ideas reside within the ABC, you and your management team don’t give them a fair go,” the staff letter said. “When ABC program makers say they want a chance to build programs, your Director of Television [Kim Dalton] tells them they need to leave the ABC and pitch their ideas from outside.
“Your message recommits to a mixed production model, but when we look at the schedule we see very few internal TV programs left. The dismantling of internal TV production capacity has demoralized staff to the lowest levels since the ABC commenced TV transmission in 1956.”
In his letter, Mr Scott said the expansion into digital radio and television and onto mobile platforms had been a “significant investment” but had dramatically expanded the reach of the ABC.
"I don’t underestimate how disappointing and unsettling uncertainty about the future can be for people who have worked hard for the ABC over a long period of time,” he said.
