agree.
Ummm the Royal Commission into antisemitism had just commenced.
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And? The Royal Commission should be allowed to do its job without any objectivity.
Plus most of the populationâs attention span has drifted onto the situation in Iran and other things. Until the findings are presented Bondi will be, for most (apart from the families affected) a distant memory.
So much for a âcurrentâ affair program. If they did this a month ago it wouldâve been a bit more relevant than mid-March.
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Looking forward to the episodes on Islamophobia, racism against Aboriginal Australians, homophobia and transphobia.
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Just because another conflict has started doesnât mean the wider issue of anti semitism has endedâŚ. Itâs not just about Bondi. If you actually watched the program you would understand what they are talking about - schools with security, not showing school uniforms in public. Itâs not a case of âbetter news over here lets stop talking about itâ.
Most people are being bombarded by the Iran conflict, so why do we need further dedicated coverage of discussion of it ? See my point?
I think youâll find that these could be topics for future weeksâŚ.
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Overall, I thought it was a very decent program - I do agree that it couldâve aired a little bit earlier, however, overall, it is still an important conversation to have.
Looking forward to what other topics the ABC have planned for this.
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I do like the format itâs more like a BBC Question Time style feel and doesnât feel like Q&A despite it clearly aiming to be. ABC clearly started very strongly with a topic that has many different viewpoints but the test will be how future National Forum topics are handled and whether the programâs format is adaptable enough to cater for election cycles etc. to become of bigger use to the entire ABC News brand.
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Three call outs that I didnât like:
Director needs to stop doing the token ethnicity cutaway. Discussing Indian racism, cuts to an Indian man in the audience.
Spiers needs to reduce his smug smiling - way too much of it going on and gives me the creeps.
Not a fan that the program has come at the expense of Four Corners. Air it earlier.
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Fair points - I do hope they let other ABC journalists have a shot (i.e. Sarah Ferguson, Melissa Clark, etc), instead of just wheeling out Spiers.
Next week
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Whilst Iâll take your points, does anyone think that if it wasnât for Bondi, this probably wouldnât have featured as a topic at all? For the past 3 years Antisemitism has been touted across the mainstream media but itâs taken until now for it to be put into the spotlight by ABC? Notwithstanding the specials that Sky (oops, News 24) did a while ago, you can probably see that the link to what happened at Bondi definitely had an influence over the topic.
Who said that Iran was better news? Itâs horrible whatâs happening over there and weâve got lots of news on it which is warranted. But for a program that is aiming to be a forum on âcurrent issuesâ that matter to people it would absolutely be a bit more relevant.
Looks like a set one would use for election coverage, but it still looks good nonetheless.
Sky News are still âbanging onâ about Bondi as well. Obviously itâs something we need to continue discussing.
Try over 30 years ago haha
I caught a few minutes of this tonight - it seems to be far less rowdy a format than what Q and A was. The audience is clearly there but there seems to be far more decorum than the more aggro fight-in-the-pit live debate style atmosphere that Q and A was. I thought it was quite refreshing to see something like that where people are able to articulate what they want to say without interjection, especially with such a sensitive topic.
Set design looked pretty good.
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Tonightâs forum will premiere on ABC Australia across Asia-Pacific region this Wednesday (March 11) at 1pm AEDT, with repeat at 10pm AEDT.
Replay posted on Youtube:
I wonder if theyâll do National Forums whenever they donât have a new episode of Four Corners ready. Would prefer a National Forum over an old bloody doco in place of no Four Corners that week
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One other thing - I was actually surprised to find that it was broadcast live? It certainly did not feel like it was. I suppose that says a lot about the quality of the people who were given the platform to speak.
It was live in AEDT areas, yes. Although it probably wouldnât make much of a difference being aired pre-recâd or as-live anyway.
Oh, waitâŚI only caught a few minutes of the program. Looking at the entire thing, I might suggest it might be a bit one-sided and feels like an attempt to make penance for the ABCâs sins?