New essential poll today shows 35% of respondents support cutting spending on the ABC.
The ABC once had a hallowed status, but those days are over. One in three Australians are not enthused with non-stop naked Green-Labor advertising combined with derision and scorn for the deplorable half of the population.
We pay 14 cents a day for the ABC and it’s not worth it.
…
ABC ratings plummet 13% in the last year
Showing that this survey is not an abberation, the whole nation is voting with the remote control:
Last week ABC News attracted about 660,000 viewers in the mainland capital cities. This compares with about 760,000 viewers a year ago.
That’s a trend line headed for zero by 2025.
Most Australians don’t watch the prime time 7pm news service they are forced to pay for. Apparently the ABC is a subsidy package for poor inner city elites who can afford to live in Darlinghurst but not to pay for their own news service.
The ABC rescue plan is a workshop on telling stories
The ABC solution yesterday is to get better at “storytelling”. It does not include employing a second conservative or libertarian commentator (one, Amanda Vanstone, a soft-left Turnbull supporter, is enough). It does not include making the ABC “the place to be” for national debate of key issues. Nor does it include representing the other half of the population.
“We want to improve our storytelling for 7pm news,” the strategy document says. “To do so, we’ll begin writing workshops for TV news. These will be aimed at reporters at all levels to help reinforce how TV news storytelling is different and to remind reporters what producers are looking for.”
In a flash of insight, they also realized that a news service might need to tell “stories with impact”. Perhaps in future they might mention Rotherham*, instead of running 30 days strait about Rolf Harris? ABC News hammers the few pet topics of inner city ABC editors to the point that David and I sometimes have to pause the playback to check the date. Is there any other news service in the world where viewers wonder if they have accidentally played yesterdays news again? Lately, I swear I saw this exact same piece on sheep and for two weeks.
In long gone decades the 7:30 Report used to be “must see” viewing for anyone interested in politics in Australia. Now, whatever. At least they could bring back Chris Uhlman. Better yet. Give us back our 14c. That’s $200 a year for any family of four. How many Australians would buy that subscription?
And of course, the real cost of the ABC each year is measured in billions. For starters, there’s the damage done by government funded druid schemes to slow storms in 2100 that the ABC never asked one hard question about.
*Rotherham, UK: most Australians have no idea. Thanks to 18C you are not free to say much below, except “God Help Us”.