ABC operations

7 posts were merged into an existing topic: Australia Day Honours 2021

except Scott Morrison!

Surely between his support of Scott Cam, Guy Sebastian (when he was there anyway) and the Cronulla Sharks, our Prime Minister is most likely to have Nine as his favourite television network?

I’d imagine it’d be pretty similar for Gladys since she represents the state electorate that TCN previously had their studios in, although no doubt other Liberal MPs have Sky News as their favourite!

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Australia Day? Invasion Day? Or just 26 January?

Some audience members have been asking about the ABC’s terminology in stories and coverage around Australia Day.

This is a perennial issue. As National Indigenous affairs reporter Isabella Higgins writes (“Australia Day debate is exhausting and data tells us it could last another generation”):

“Every year, January 26 rolls around, and each time the same debate about our national day floods the country’s consciousness — and for some of us it can feel tiringly predictable. The loud headlines, the hyperbolic commentary, the sense this debate won’t be quickly resolved, or that perhaps some aren’t even looking for resolution.”

The default terminology for the ABC remains “Australia Day”, as you can see here: Archived Page - ABC News

We also recognise and respect that community members use other terms for the event, including “26 January”, “Invasion Day” and “Survival Day”, so our reporting and coverage reflect that.

This is the advice that has gone to ABC program teams:

The official (ie legislated) name of this day off in January varies by jurisdiction. In NSW it is “Australia Day”. In SA it is “26 January”. In WA and Tasmania it is dual-named: “Australia Day (26 January)”. In Queensland, the NT, the ACT and Victoria, the opposite convention is found: “26 January (Australia Day)”.

Legislative use is one perspective. By way of contrast, government websites listing public holidays tend to use “Australia Day” in first reference, regardless of what the holiday is called in the relevant Act.

It is important to note, though, that both the Macquarie and the Australian Concise Oxford dictionaries list “Survival Day” and “Invasion Day” as roughly synonymous with “Australia Day”, either as “viewed by Indigenous people and their supporters” (Macquarie), or “especially in Aboriginal Australian contexts” (ACOD).

Both terms have a long history of use in this country: the Australian National Dictionary dates both to the 1980s. A precursor for both terms would be the 1938 announcement by Indigenous groups that January 26 – not then a national public holiday – be known as a Day of Mourning and Protest.

Given the variety of terms in use, and the different perspectives on the day that the ABC is going to cover over the course of the long weekend, it would be inappropriate to mandate staff use any one term over others in all contexts.

The Minister for Communications has told the ABC that 26 January is Australia Day.

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50 posts were split to a new topic: Australia Day

The ABC doesn’t need to be told. Has he not seen the promos running on ABC promoting its “Australia Day” coverage? There have been ads running on ABC with “Australia Day” in big bold heading.

This is how it’s listed on their website

And its official YouTube channel

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Australia Day 2021 on your ABC

The theme of Australia Day this year is Reflect. Respect. Celebrate.

January 26, 2021 is a time to reflect on our history, respect the stories of others and celebrate our nation, its achievements and its people.

The ABC’s coverage of Australia Day 2021
The words Australia Day; Reflect. Respect. Celebrate. on a white background.
Marking Australia Day 2021, we acknowledge the Australian spirit and celebrate our strength, with events, news and essential Aussie viewing from around the nation.

Tune into the ABC’s radio, television and online coverage of Australia Day events to reflect on, respect and celebrate all things Aussie … from the comfort of your own home.

January 25

  • 7:30pm (AEDT)Australian of the Year Awards on ABC TV + iview, ABC Local Radio, ABC News channel (Ch 24) and streamed on the Facebook pages of ABC Australia, and the ABC page in your capital city (e.g. ABC Sydney), and ABC Australia YouTube
  • From 7:00pm (AEDT)AOTY Awards on ABC Radio — Dan Bourchier from ABC Canberra will host a special outside broadcast from the Arboretum in Canberra. This will include a simulcast of the ceremony, as well as interviews before and after. Find your local station here on the ABC listen app.

January 26

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perhaps the Communications Minister might tell us where the ABC has referred to Invasion Day in amongst all this?

Incidentally, ABC has offered some clarity in light of the misleading (surprise, surprise) reporting from The Australian

UPDATED 25 January: In light of some misreporting on this issue, to be abundantly clear: The ABC’s policy is to to use the term Australia Day, as it always has. As the editorial advice states, other terms can be used when they are appropriate in certain contexts. This does not mean they are used interchangeabley.

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… it was the headline to an online article … which was posted yesterday at 8am and was “updated” to remove the word “Invasion” at 11am today … Australia Day is a contentious day for many. Here are the events being held on January 26 - ABC News

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They sure know how to upset the snowflakes and perpetually outraged.

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So The Australian’s “gotcha” was based on a headline on one web page? Which essentially was not untrue as some of the events were “Invasion Day” rallies, etc. So the headline reflected that? Anyway, if they’ve changed it, it doesn’t really matter. I mean, mission accomplished for The Australian. They get to drag ABC through the mud as part of its Monday ritual.

It’s hard to know which “side” is worse. Everyone seems so easily triggered no matter what.

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yep … it’s hard to know whether the people who call themselves journalists at the ABC are really that stupid or they’re doing it deliberately as bait …

Not only that but everyone ends up being pissed off. This latest outrage is the perfect example - News Corp + the government create a misleading news cycle out of the use of ‘Invasion Day’ while the backflip today has predictably resulted in the usual suspects on Twitter claiming (among other things) that the ABC doesn’t have a ‘backbone’ anymore.

The ABC has become such a divisive element of the ‘culture wars’ that people are ready to pounce on (seemingly) anything and everything their news division does.

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They can’t win either way. Whatever they do it will be triggering to someone.

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… sadly so very true … I remember the days that the ABC was universally respected and its news department set the standard for reporting facts … in fact I was proud to be an ABC employee … but it came to the point that the ABC forgot about “standards” and decided, in the words of its news department, that its role was to “set the agenda” and tilt at windmills instead … I personally realised that I was actually embarrassed to be associated with what it had degenerated into and quit … and I’m not alone …

Problem began when sky news went to war with them and then theABc became the beacon for culture wars by the IPA, the Australian, sky news and any of the coalition governments.

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I saw that article posted on the ABC website and thought ‘oh ffs, they’re just inviting trouble with a headline like that’.

The article is about what the anti-Australia Day crowd are doing on the day. That’s fair enough, worthy of reporting on…but the problem with it was that at first glance it looked like they were giving the title ‘Invasion Day’ equal footing to ‘Australia Day’ which is obviously going to rile people up. It’s up there with those crappy clickbaity headlines you see on ABC Life/Everyday.

With 99% of people never actually clicking on the article, they’re just going to read the headline and go ‘those ABC lefties are at it again with my taxpayer $!’

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… it was actually the other way round … ABC created a Pay-TV news operation in 1993 and tried to bully providers into buying it … 7 & 9 entered into a partnership with BSkyB and left the ABC high and dry when they signed up the providers instead … in 2010 the ABC “went to war” with SkyNews by establishing the unbudgeted, unfunded ABC News Channel by pillaging funds from areas like drama, comedy, children’s and regional when the ALP government wouldn’t fund it … 10 years later the “war” continues as you say along politically-leaning lines …

seriously… “he started it”, “no, he started it”… from the two biggest media operators in the country?

No wonder nobody trusts the media anymore

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