Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has noted the “b” in ABC stands for “broadcasting”, ahead of a briefing about the news organisation’s recent job cuts.
The ABC last week announced it was preparing to cut up to 120 jobs, including its senior arts team and the role of Canberra-based political editor Andrew Probyn.
ABC news director Justin Stevens sent staff a five-year plan for the national broadcaster, which outlined a move away from traditional channels and a shift from three to two divisions of news and content.
Asked by partyroom colleagues on Tuesday about the ABC’s announcement, Ms Rowland said the government had been restoring funding and helped secure the five-year plan for the public broadcaster.
She said the decision was not only about money, and she had requested a briefing with the organisation’s heads.
Despite noting the ABC ultimately had independence for such decisions, Ms Rowland said pointedly: “The ‘B’ in ABC stands for broadcasting.”
Ms Rowland has already requested an urgent briefing about the ABC’s impending changes.
Mr Stevens told staff the ABC would be an integrated digital operation by 2028, and needed to “find savings and efficiencies to deal with rising costs and to reinvest in its strategic priorities”.
ABC staff were sent a five-year plan for the organisation last Thursday. It outlined the move from traditional channels and a shift to two divisions, news and content.
The structure for ABC commissioning editors will change and there will be fewer executives involved in the commissioning and production process. Additionally the broadcaster will adopt a digital-first approach to commissioning and choosing content.
This will free up funds for investment in “high-quality distinctive Australian content”.
Meanwhile, about 40 positions across the news division are expected to become redundant, including journalists, editors, camera and sound operators on 7.30, Australian Story, Four Corners and the investigations team. Other cuts include the digital arts editor and the managing editor of arts.
The journalists’ union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, has been scathing about the planned changes. It said the job cuts would leave “gaping holes” in the broadcaster’s news across Australia and would “inevitably weaken its ability to deliver quality journalism to the Australian public”.
There has been much personal support for Probyn from other journalists while ABC staff have described the redundancies online as a bloodbath and said they were furious.
– with AAP
