Member and supporter survey – what you told us

Why are you a member or supporter of ABC Friends? What do you think our priorities as an organisation should be? How would you like to hear from us? These are some of the questions we asked in our recent survey of members and supporters.

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1285 people replied and your answers have helped us develop an understanding of you, our supporters, and how best we can use our limited resources.

What’s important about the ABC?

We asked you to rank five statements about the ABC in order of importance.

Top ranking went to the statement “Maintaining impartiality in reporting” with “Guaranteeing independence from government” coming second.

The role of ABC Friends

We also asked you to rank the most important roles for ABC Friends. Number one was “To advocate to government in support of the ABC” followed by "To raise awareness with the Australian public about the ABC’s role as an independent public broadcaster”.

How should we communicate with you?

Most respondents would like to hear from us through our monthly email newsletter or occasional emails. Only a small percentage would like to receive a printed newsletter.

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When we asked what sort of information you’d like us to communicate, your answers were fairly evenly split between three statements:

ABC Friends’ responses to important policy issues
Opportunities to participate in online actions such as petitions and surveys
Stories about the ABC such as new programs and services

There was also strong interest in news about ABC Friends activities in your state or territory.

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A few of your many comments.

I rely on ABC radio (Classic & RN) so much & I want to give something back. I turned to ABC classic during COVID 19, & it really saved my life!
I want to see the ABC maintain a strong voice in the Australian media landscape.
To stop ABC being dumbed-down and commercialised by both the Coalition and the so-called Labor Party.
To encourage the return of science and innovation informative programs.
To ensure that Australia maintains an excellent PUBLIC broadcaster free from advertisers and their stated and unstated interests.
I'm 88 and ABC has been central to my life since primary school broadcasts, The Argonauts Club, the Lawsons, the News, the Weather Forecasts & River Heights, the Cricket & Notes on the News from 79 years ago.
Globally media outlets, except for a few public broadcasters, are extremely biased. The ABC is one of those scarce exceptions. I am saddened by cuts to the ABC’s funding hence programs and the bias in the majority of Australia’s media that verges on no more than blatant propaganda.
Put pressure on ABC to retain excellent programs.
I was invited to a meeting of the WA Friends...and ended up on the committee for the next ten years!

Thank you for taking the time to reply. We considered your responses carefully and are using them to guide our work over the coming year. For example, we started the monthly eNews on a trial basis, but with your strong support we will continue to offer it for the foreseeable future. We will also offer a major print magazine each year, supported by state-based news and emails.

A small aside: It took users 7 mins 30 secs on average to complete the survey. We said it would take 7 minutes – not bad!

Cassandra Parkinson
President

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