There is great concern over Mark Scott and Kim Dalton’s abilities to effectively manage the ABC with such a high number of internally produced programming being axed without second though. Leaving the question to be answered by the ABC – Where is my money going?
The only way the ABC can be held accountable for its actions is through the Senate Inquiry, and with the ever increasing list of productions being canned by the ABC, now is the time for action.
Submissions are due by the 9th September and information can be found on the Senate Inquiry Information Page.
The Australian 5th September 2011
THE only dedicated arts program on ABC Radio has been targeted for the axe, just weeks after the broadcaster dumped its only TV arts program.
Without Art Nation on ABC TV and Artworks on Radio National, the broadcaster will not have any programs directly covering the arts, despite arts coverage being a key plank of the ABC Charter.
The cancellation of Art Nation is one of the recent ABC cuts under investigation by the Senate. Independent senator Nick Xenophon won backing for an inquiry into the broadcaster and a report will be delivered by October 12.
Adding to the ABC's woes, the draft schedule for Radio National revealed the weekly hour-long Artworks, hosted by Amanda Smith, will be dropped next year.
The half-hour Artworks Feature that follows it on Sunday mornings has also disappeared in the proposed 2012 schedule.
The schedule was released to staff on the same day as managing director Mark Scott delivered an address to the National Press Club, in which he justified axing Art Nation on the grounds there were "rich and layered" arts on ABC radio and online.
"When we announced the end of Art Nation, there were some claims that this showed we were withdrawing from the arts," Mr Scott said on Wednesday.
"Far from it. Not only do we show and will continue to show a wide range of arts programming on ABC television, but we do the same on radio, and on our rich and layered arts portal online."
But ABC sources said without programs being produced by the arts units in TV and radio, there would be no content for the portal.
Radio National's popular The Book Show with Ramona Koval will be reworked as Arts and Books, under the proposed schedule. But radio sources say the addition of "art" to the books show is an "afterthought" to deflect criticism that the ABC has abandoned the arts.
There is also no certainty about whether Koval will remain as host and whether the show will continue to cover non-fiction books as well as fiction.
The future of presenters Rachel Kohn, Peter Mares and Paul Barclay also remains unclear if their shows are cancelled.
There are grave concerns, too, for the network's only investigative program Background Briefing, which is to be absorbed by a new program, Weekend Extra.
Media revealed last week that the ABC will drop Bowls Australia next year and that local football coverage may also be dropped.
The secretary of the ABC section of the Community and Public Sector Union, Graeme Thomson, told Media he believed the axing of the football codes had been delayed until the heat from the Senate inquiry was off the broadcaster.
"Sport helps them prop up the misleading statistic that head of TV Kim Dalton uses that 84 per cent of production is internal," Mr Thomson said. "That figure may have been correct until the recently announced cuts for the simple reason that local sport occupies big chunks of time in the weekend schedule."
A group of prominent Australians have also written an open letter to the ABC calling for arts coverage to be supported.
Last month, Mr Dalton cancelled Art Nation, presented by Fenella Kernebone, and all the internally produced arts documentaries that air under the Artscape banner. Fifteen people were offered redundancies.
According to the ABC website, Radio National's weekly arts and culture program, Artworks, "looks at the big themes, views, issues and events in the arts" and features interviews on current cultural issues and explores historical periods.
The International News Magazine 4th September 2011
Eminent Australians call on ABC to Support Arts
Tim Winton, Nick Cave, Betty Churcher, Geoffrey Rush and Elizabeth Ann Macgregor are among a group of local artists who are dismayed and outraged at ABC management’s decision to chop Art Nation, the ABC’s sole TV arts magazine program, and disband the national broadcaster’s TV arts unit.
Their names are included in a veritable ‘who’s who’ of people prominent in the arts and other parts of life who have issued an open letter to the ABC Board to complain at what is happening.
The letter has the support of SA Premier Mike Rann and Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle. Signatories like leading scientist Sir Gustav Nossal, football legend Ron Barassi and economist Saul Eslake reflect the breadth of interest in this issue.
“We fear the arts are being marginalised by the ABC’s concentration on prime-time programming,” said Jonathan Biggins, a leading Australian theatre director and writer.
The reasons cited for the planned cuts to arts by the head of ABC TV in a memo to ABC staff and reported in the media, are: “falling audiences” and an interest to “focus its limited financial resources on prime-time programming”. In other words, ratings.
“What separates the ABC from commercial networks is the rigour and imagination to seek out the poets, the myth-makers and painters. If the cultural life of this country is not considered worthy of the national broadcaster's continuous attention, then what is?” said Biggins.
“This act of cultural vandalism will also seriously diminish the ABC’s role as the nation's cultural archivist,” said Michael Shrimpton, a former head of ABC TV Arts and Entertainment. “The ABC is a chronicler of our greatest artistic achievements.”
The ABC Charter gives the public broadcaster a responsibility to produce "programs of cultural enrichment" and "encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia".
“The Board will have failed if it does not ensure a strong and viable television arts unit which can both commission and create great programs,” said Biggins and Shrimpton.
Open Letter to the ABC Board
Their names are included in a veritable ‘who’s who’ of people prominent in the arts and other parts of life who have issued an open letter to the ABC Board to complain at what is happening.
The letter has the support of SA Premier Mike Rann and Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle. Signatories like leading scientist Sir Gustav Nossal, football legend Ron Barassi and economist Saul Eslake reflect the breadth of interest in this issue.
“We fear the arts are being marginalised by the ABC’s concentration on prime-time programming,” said Jonathan Biggins, a leading Australian theatre director and writer.
The reasons cited for the planned cuts to arts by the head of ABC TV in a memo to ABC staff and reported in the media, are: “falling audiences” and an interest to “focus its limited financial resources on prime-time programming”. In other words, ratings.
“What separates the ABC from commercial networks is the rigour and imagination to seek out the poets, the myth-makers and painters. If the cultural life of this country is not considered worthy of the national broadcaster's continuous attention, then what is?” said Biggins.
“This act of cultural vandalism will also seriously diminish the ABC’s role as the nation's cultural archivist,” said Michael Shrimpton, a former head of ABC TV Arts and Entertainment. “The ABC is a chronicler of our greatest artistic achievements.”
The ABC Charter gives the public broadcaster a responsibility to produce "programs of cultural enrichment" and "encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia".
“The Board will have failed if it does not ensure a strong and viable television arts unit which can both commission and create great programs,” said Biggins and Shrimpton.
