The value and future of public broadcasting came under examination in Canberra on 5 February, at an event hosted jointly by the Parliamentary Friends of the ABC and ABC Friends.
More than 70 Friends and members of Parliament gathered to hear Chair of the ABC, Kim Williams AM, award-winning freelance journalist and author, Dr Margaret Simons, and ABC presenter Tony Jones, discuss the role of public broadcasting and how we can guarantee its future.
Kim Williams told the gathering that the ABC was Australia’s core line of defence against misinformation and disinformation.
How we respond to the malicious nature and profound consequences of disinformation has become an issue of national sovereignty, he said.
“The ABC plays an important role in responding to misinformation and disinformation,” Mr Williams said. “The best antidote is the truth.’
The ABC has a responsibility to make sure Australians know their stories and maintain vital links between regional and metropolitan Australians.
It is fundamental to tell Australian stories, in Australian accents, and to give Australian children access to programs portraying Australian values.
Dr Simons said that the ABC’s own research and independent reports consistently show that public broadcasters are the most trusted media organisations by a long way.
They are most trusted for several reasons including their evident seriousness of purpose, the relative lack of sensationalism and ‘that unfashionable thing’, objectivity.
“After the last week or so, many people are asking whether our political trajectory will be different from that of the USA,” Dr Simons said.
Dr Simons said the benefits of public journalism, like many public things, public health, public housing, are hard to prove.
“Nevertheless, there is evidence that a healthier democracy and public life is correlated with healthy public service media,” she said.
ABC Friends National President, Cassandra Parkinson, and Vice-President, Carol Stuart, took advantage of the Canberra visit to meet with senior politicians including the Federal Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland and Greens Communications spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young.
We presented ABC Friends election platform and will follow up with a formal request for written commitments to the ABC.
Carol Stuart
National Vice-President