Change FOI to govern ABC

Former ABC board member Judith Sloan writes in today's Australian:

Their ABC is just ungovernable
"Short of some broad-based and hard-nosed external review and significant cuts to taxpayer funding of the organisation, it is hard to see how the ABC will fundamentally change -- and, of course, that suits the Friends of the ABC and other devotees just fine."
Follow the link to read the rest.

A simple method to make the ABC more accountable is to expose the organisation to the full force of FOI. The ABC currently enjoys wide ranging exemptions from FOI for "documents that relate to program material". The exemptions provide a means to shelter the ABC from public scrutiny. As we have found HERE this exemption is widely applied by the ABC to the detriment of the public's right to know. As FOI lawyer Peter Timmins documents in an article on his blog, titled FOI front in the News v ABC battle, ABC's use of the exemption has been extended to cover information relating to audience data and employee salaries. These subjects are not related to program content, but ABC has successfully argued the exemption still applies. It seems that as the ABC's role is "programming" it can argue virtually everything it does should be covered by the exemption.

ABC programming is paid for by tax payer's funds and should be as open to scrutiny and audit as much as the rest of government. Why is the ABC provided with a "chamber of secrets" in which to hide its dirty laundry?
I guess ABC's membership of the "Right to Know" coalition is for publicity purposes only.




UPDATE 19/8/2011 Letters page in today's Oz contains some comments on Judith's article (including ours) HERE.

mistaking weather for climate

Note the tags below this story on cold weather in NZ...

Climate change: now any weather event out of the ordinary.

Here are a few past climate change events to hit our eastern neighbours...

FIERCE BLIZZARD. HEAVY SNOW IN NEW ZEALAND Transport Disorganised.

The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) Monday 2 July 1934 p 9 Article

FIVE KILLED. In Terrific Blizzard. New Zealand Catastrophe AUCKLAND, January 20.

Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1885 - 1954) Tuesday 21 January 1930 p 6 Article

SNOW, STORM, AND FLOOD DAMAGE DONE IN NEW ZEALAND. Wellington, July 16.

The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931) Wednesday 17 July 1912 p 10 Article

SNOW AND RAIN. Heavy Storm in New Zealand. WELLINGTON (N.Z.), Sunday.

The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Monday 27 August 1934 p 10 Article

Terrible Blizzard STORM IN NEW ZEALAND SOUTHERN PORTION SWEPT HEAVY FALLS OF SNOW Wellington, July 1. [coming soon]

Geraldton Guardian and Express (WA : 1929 - 1947) Tuesday 3 July 1934 p 1 Article

Midsummer Freeze Hits New Zealand

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956) Monday 17 February 1947 p 3 Article

working on a solution

Seems ABC innovation are still working hard, battling those image problems on the ABC's environment news page...

We initially advised ABC of the issue on the 4th of April. According to those in the know..."ABC Innovation has advised that stories from across the ABC that are filed with no image are randomly assigned an image on the Environment portal from a pool of images. I understand relevant ABC Innovation staff are aware of the discordant match-ups that this system has produced and have been working on a solution. The examples published on your website have been brought to the attention of ABC Innovation management."

Before the ABC: When weather equals climate change

Earlier this month ABC reported on warmer than average August temperatures in South Australia and managed to drag the specter of global warming into the story.
Looking over a few past headlines from an era prior to the ABC at the National Library's newspaper archive, it seems they have confused the weather and the climate.

The Advertiser - 29 August 1928: A hot day, record August Temperatures.
Kalgoorlie Western Argus -15 August 1911: Hot Weather in Adelaide.
The Advertiser - 27 August 1914: Breaking Records, Exceptionally dry August

Before the ABC: an occasional snapshot of news in the days BABC

Claims left unchallenged

ABC provide this report that claims a study by the ACTU and the Australian Conservation Foundation has found strong action on climate change will lead to job growth on the New South Wales mid-north coast. 

At the end of the report Don Henry, Executive Director of the Australian Conservation Foundation, claims "But the bottom line is when you look at independent research, it shows, for example, for the mid-north coast, that we'll see strong job growth over the next 20 years and that makes sense because as you cut pollution and have a cleaner economy, it creates job opportunities."

This claim is left unchallenged by the ABC. Since when did a woeful report by the ACTU and ACF constitute "independent" research? To cap it off the "study" is actually old news based on a May 2010 study by the ACTU and ACF announced HERE. 

And somehow ABC regard this lack of inquiry and recycling of old news as journalism!

Media Watcher

Professor Bunyip casts an eye over Jonathan Holmes to do list. Perhaps some of these will be put to rest tonight?

Missing News: Arctic Sea Ice

According to a  BBC report: Scientists say current concerns over a tipping point in the disappearance of Arctic sea ice may be misplaced. See the rest of the story, missing from the ABC at the BBC. ABC's most recent report on Arctic Sea predictably promotes the opposite view: Arctic ice melting fast.