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Creative collaboration between the ABC and Australian arts community

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ABC Chair Ita Buttrose confirmed the public broadcaster’s commitment to the arts at its inaugural Arts Summit in Sydney with key leaders of the Australian arts community.

In the first of a series of Arts Summits, held at ABC Ultimo on Wednesday, Ms Buttrose said greater collaboration with Australian artists would benefit ABC audiences and provide much-needed support to the arts community.

She said the ABC would increase its support for the arts in 2021, including a new weekly arts program and new collaborative project, ABC Artsfest, which will provide opportunities for the arts community across television and digital platforms.

From 1 January, the ABC’s rebranded second channel ABC TV Plus will also showcase art and culture content in primetime, including documentaries and live performances.

“No one has been immune from the impact of COVID-19, especially the arts sector, which was one of the first sectors shut down during the pandemic,” Ms Buttrose said.

“It is now slowly reopening but, as we all know, audience capacity is still restricted and no one knows yet when the green light will be given for a return to full houses.

“The ABC will assist the Australian arts industry in whatever way we can to help it get back on its feet after this bleak year. We are inviting the sector to share their ideas on how we might work together to achieve this.”

Ms Buttrose said the ABC had led the way in supporting the Australian arts sector during COVID-19, including the Fresh Start Fund for innovative new arts content and launching the biggest-ever catalogue of arts performances on ABC iview of theatre, opera, ballet and classical music.

In 2021, the ABC will launch outstanding new Australian arts programs, such as Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra, Finding the Archibald, Going Country and an Australian books series.

“In 2021, ABC iview and ABC TV Plus will be the nation’s primary destinations for Australian arts and culture content,” Ms Buttrose said. “The ABC has helped build new audiences for the arts, bringing together Australians of all backgrounds to enjoy the magic of theatre and the pleasure of a musical show.”

ABC Head of Factual and Culture Jennifer Collins said the arts are a great vehicle for exploring and celebrating the truths of our society. “The ABC is committed to connecting more Australians with more of the arts, and in doing so enriching the lives of people around the country,” she said.

“We’re thrilled with our arts slate for 2021 and look forward to continuing to collaborate with the local arts industry to bring the best of our arts and culture to all Australians.”

Click here for more information on the ABC’s arts content and coverage in 2021.

ABC establishes new Indigenous Archives Unit

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The ABC has established a new Indigenous Archives Unit responsible for managing Australia’s largest news and current affairs collection relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The Unit will oversee the ABC’s Indigenous content collection, including video, audio, photos and documents. This unique and important collection captures songs and ceremonies from as early as the 1940s to contemporary material on Indigenous communities, health, the land rights movement, the freedom ride in 1965, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in front of Parliament House and the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart.

The collection includes a highly significant recording of Indigenous man ‘Sandy’, who spoke to Dr C.T. Madigan, leader of the 1939 Simpson Desert expedition – the first broadcast from central Australia; audio recordings and images from the 1950s of Albert Namatjira, one of the pioneers of Indigenous contemporary art; and the 1974 TV drama Pig in a Poke , a contemporary series set in Redfern with Indigenous people as part of the multicultural community – almost 40 years before Redfern Now .

Much of the collection, including all images, has been digitised and is held in the ABC’s Content Digital Archive (CoDA).

David Anderson, ABC Managing Director, said the Unit’s establishment was an exciting opportunity to grow and support audience knowledge of Australia’s Indigenous peoples.

“This initiative will highlight and celebrate the cultural contribution made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

“It is a very exciting moment and one that will provide valuable story-telling, context, history and connection with different communities.

“Having a dedicated Indigenous Archives Unit run by Indigenous experts in the ABC to catalogue the material, preserve this historically significant collection and ensure it is managed in a culturally appropriate way will enable us to share content not only with the communities it depicts but to all of Australia.

“The collection and presentation of content created by, for and about Australia’s first peoples is an essential part of the ABC’s role as a national broadcaster and storyteller, offering a unique and rich legacy that is worthy of protection and management.”

One of the Unit’s key functions will be to support the ABC’s content makers in delivering Indigenous stories for audiences across all platforms and services, and in ways that are culturally appropriate and respectful of sensitive cultural content.

The ABC will be advertising two new roles for the Indigenous Archives Unit – a Manager and a Curatorial Assistant – and there are plans to further expand the team.

ABC’s First Day and Content win Rose d’Or Awards

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Ground-breaking ABC series First Day and Content have won prestigious Rose d’Or Awards, celebrating screen excellence and achievement from around the world.

The ABC programs were Australia’s only winners at the international awards, which attracted more than 760 entries from every major territory in the world.

ABC ME series First Day, produced by Epic Films, won the Children and Youth Award for its powerful story about a transgender girl starting high school and finding the courage to live as her most authentic self. Content, produced by Ludo Studio, won the Rose d’Or for best Social Media and Video Series. The vertical viewing series was the world’s first comedy show set entirely on a smartphone – telling the story of a millennial whose life changes when a car crash turns her into a global meme.

First Day and Content , which are available to watch now on ABC iview, beat finalists from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Nominees for the 59th Rose d’Or Awards were chosen by over 80 international judges from across the television industry.

Libbie Doherty, ABC Head of Children’s Production, said the Rose d’Or Award win showed how authentic Australian content resonated here and overseas. “This is a phenomenal win for First Day and the amazingly talented transgender actor Evie Macdonald,” she said.

“The series enables trans children and their families to see themselves and their stories reflected on screen in a beautiful and sensitive child-centric way, which has resonated with young people and the international transgender community. Congratulations to ABC ME, writer-director Julie Kalceff, producers Kirsty Stark and Kate Croser and Epic Films, for helping to bring wider understanding and empathy to the world.”

Sally Riley, ABC Head of Drama, Entertainment & Indigenous content, said: “The ABC is incredibly proud of this team and the boundaries Content pushed in terms of form and story. Congratulations to Ludo Studio, Meg O’Connell, Anna Barnes and the team. We are deeply proud of the bold and fearless storytelling that Ludo and the ABC championed on this show.”

The Rose d’Or Award caps off an extraordinary run of success for the ABC Children’s team, which this year has won two International Kids Emmy Awards (for Bluey and Hardball ), two Prix Jeunesse International Awards ( Hardball and The Unlisted ), a Rockie Award at the Banff World Media Festival ( Hardball ), a MIPCOM Diversify TV Excellence Award ( And Then Something Changed) and an AACTA Award ( Bluey ) .

The 2019 series First Day and the 2017 stand-alone film on which it is based – commissioned through an ABC and Screen Australia joint initiative to celebrate International Day of the Girl – have also won the inaugural prize for outstanding children’s programming across all genres at the MIPCOM Diversify TV Excellence Awards and the prestigious Prix Jeunesse Gender Equity Prize , voted on by 550 children’s television experts from 65 countries.

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ABC statement on Editorial Review: Impartiality of the Federal Election 2019

Before the 2019 federal election the ABC Board commissioned an independent reviewer, Kerry Blackburn, to assess a sample of coverage during one week of election coverage against the ABC’s impartiality guidelines.

The ABC regularly commissions such editorial reviews in order to get independent external feedback on our performance for the internal use of our teams to help inform and improve our work.

The ABC takes seriously our editorial standards and statutory responsibilities and knows that as the public broadcaster we are held to a higher standard.

The report was one of a number commissioned by the ABC Board. Two other reports were published: the iSentia Share of Voice report and the Election Coverage Review Committee report.

As Kerry Blackburn noted, her review was not a comprehensive analysis and was intended to give ABC editorial managers starting points for discussion.

The ABC Board determined that it was deliberative material for program-makers and should only be used internally. The ABC Board stands by this decision, On 9 December 2020 the Senate ordered that the review be published. The correspondence from the office of the ABC Chair to the Senate President and the full report can be found here.

The content sampled was: 5 editions of The Drum; 4 editions of the weekly Insiders program (across the campaign); 65 digital articles; 23 items on AM; 43 items on RN Breakfast; 18 items on 7pm News (Victoria); 9 items on 7.30.

The review confirmed that ABC News demonstrably seeks and overwhelmingly achieves impartiality.

The reviewer concluded that overall the content met the impartiality standard.

ABC journalists and presenters were shown to have been fair and accurate in their writing, interviewing and presenting.

This aligns with analysis of the Share of Voice data and the ABC’s own internal monitoring of interviews of politicians, which showed the ABC was meticulous in ensuring that the competing parties were consistently treated in a fair and balanced manner.

The review noted that:

  • Political interviews were consistently “fair and open-minded”
  • There was a “breadth and depth of storytelling, analysis and straightforward information”
  • “Innovative audience engagement enabled the presentation of a diversity of issues”
  • “Discussions on The Drum, which did deep dives into themes such as health and Australia’s changing demographic, offered insight into public policy unavailable elsewhere”
  • ‘”Australia Votes on ABC News digital complemented rather than duplicated coverage on the other platforms”

Criticisms levelled in the review, and the suggestions for improvement, largely related to the composition of the panel programs in relation to the non-ABC guests.

The reviewer found that in her view one episode of The Drum “reflected too narrow a range of viewpoints”, that “more conservative voices and perspectives should have been included” and that “the disparity impacted the program’s impartiality”.

She recommended a review of the composition of panels on The Drum and further analysis of the panels on Insiders.

The review did not identify any impartiality issue with the conduct of presenters on The Drum or identify any issues of bias in their interviews. The issue identified by the reviewer in relation to The Drum was relatively minor and related primarily to one aspect of one episode. Overwhelmingly, this was outweighed by the evidence of thoughtful and impartial analysis and discussion produced by the program team across the election period.

ABC News is proud of the achievements of The Drum and supports the entire team in its efforts to expand the range of voices and perspectives discussing topical issues on Australian television.

In the intervening 18 months the pool of contributors on The Drum has continued to grow in political and geographic diversity and there have been changes to the pool of political journalists and expert commentators used on Insiders.

The reviewer also found there was a relatively high number of minor editing errors in the digital content, particularly on weekends. A chief editor role has been added to ABC News digital, to improve commissioning and oversight and address minor editing issues

As the reviewer herself notes, the Editorial Review has limitations.

  • It is a snapshot of a limited amount of content within a limited period, representing only a small portion of the ABC’s overall election coverage, which was extensive.
  • The composition of panel programs is an imperfect art at the best of times with many factors beyond the control of producers. Producers approach this task at all times with professionalism and a determination to present a wide diversity of perspectives.
  • The key measure of impartiality used by the ABC is whether a full diversity of perspectives is presented over time. In an election campaign that principally means providing a platform for policy debate between the contending parties, so that each policy perspective is presented fairly to audiences for them to assess. The voices of the parties themselves are the most important way of achieving this and the “Share of Voice” data demonstrate the ABC achieved this.
  • In the three areas where the review found an imbalance the content reviewed was analysis conducted by experienced journalists, both ABC and non-ABC, or was commentary made by independent commentators. Much of that was commentary on the course and conduct of the campaign. Where there was discussion of policy, different perspectives were presented over time.
  • The quantitative use of coding based on whether content was deemed favourable to one party or the other can be misleading if not read in combination with the full qualitative analysis presented later in the report that distinguishes between discussions or reporting of policy and the analysis of the campaign.
  • ABC News also questioned the methodology of the review in sampling a random collection of output at one point of the election campaign.

Ms Blackburn notes:

“This has not been designed to be a pass/fail review of the ABC’s election coverage because it is only a sampling of one week of some of the content and is not an analysis of the whole of the five-week campaign across all platforms and genres.

“The findings are intended to assist the ABC’s thinking on potential improvements to its editorial processes at election time and more generally, and to inform its approach to achieving impartiality.

“The reviewer is confident that her findings for individual editions of programs or items of content can be relied on. But it is not suggested that a negative finding for one edition of one program could be reliably extrapolated as applicable to all of the ABC’s coverage of the 2019 Federal Election, or even to other editions of the same or similar programs.”

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ABC and Film Victoria kick start the careers of diverse creative talent

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The ABC has again partnered with Film Victoria to help fast track career pathways for creative talent from Indigenous and diverse backgrounds.

The new round of Film Victoria’s Screen Development Internships – in partnership with the ABC, Princess Pictures and Fremantle – will offer two more 12-month paid positions for Indigenous and traditionally under-represented Victorian creative talent, to kick-start their screen careers.

Designed to overcome traditional barriers to entering the screen industry, the internships, launched in 2019, are open to diverse creatives with a passion for storytelling and experience developing, producing or writing creative content, projects or production.

Previous recipients Nikki Tran and Davey Thompson took full advantage of what the internships offered – from giving notes on scripts and deepening their knowledge of commissioning, to assisting on the set of How To Stay Married season two. Nikki is continuing to develop her own projects as well as working with Fremantle in their scripted department, while Davey is a development associate with Screen Australia’s Indigenous Unit.

Michael Carrington, ABC Director Entertainment & Specialist, said: “Diverse creative talent is the lifeblood of our industry and the ABC is committed to supporting our next generation of content makers. We are proud to again join with Film Victoria, Princess Pictures and Fremantle in providing a development opportunity for emerging and under-represented Australian creatives to flourish.”

Minister for Creative Industries Danny Pearson said: “The Victorian Government is working to open up new career opportunities in our creative industries and ensuring that our creative sector represents the diversity of the Victorian community. We’re proud to support this program, which will bring new voices and new perspectives into the screen industry and set a strong foundation for the next generation of screen leaders.”

Film Victoria CEO Caroline Pitcher said: “Having seen firsthand the fresh ideas and insights that Nikki and Davey bring to the table, I couldn’t be more excited for them to take the next steps in their careers. Their success demonstrates the value of in-depth programs like these and I am thrilled that we’re now supporting two more diverse storytellers, in partnership with ABC, Princess Pictures and Fremantle.”

Laura Waters, Company Founder/Producer, Princess Pictures, said: “Having new, fresh voices as part of our work is vital and Davey was a revelation. We hope to continue our relationship with him as he made an incredible contribution during his time at Princess and are excited to be part of this very successful program again.”

Chris Oliver-Taylor, CEO Fremantle Asia-Pacific, said: “Thirty-five years of producing Neighbours in Melbourne has meant that Fremantle has benefited from significant emerging talent in Victoria. It is part of the Fremantle DNA that it continues to play a part in the next generation of creative talent. We’re thrilled to partner with Film Victoria and the ABC on this vital pathway to employment.”

Applications for the Victorian Screen Development Internships close at 11pm on Thursday 14 January 2021. Visit film.vic.gov.au/funding/business-skills-support to find out more.

ABC partners with AFTRS to support emerging Australian creatives

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The ABC is proud to partner with the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) to support emerging Australian creative talent.

AFTRS has announced the five recipients of its expanded 2020 AFTRS Graduate Program, which creates employment pathways for the most creative, skilled and motivated AFTRS graduates from the Bachelor of Arts (Screen).

In a fiercely competitive industry, the industry partnership between AFTRS and the ABC, Endemol Shine Australia, Fremantle Media, SBS and Sky News Australia, gives graduates exposure, training and a chance to experience various screen roles – from development and production to marketing and programming – during a 13-week paid engagement with a participating host organisation.

Among the recipients of the 2020 AFTRS Graduate Program is Belinda Parry, who will work on the production and development of ABC Factual programs. Other recipients Jaimie Conlon will join Endemol Shine, Grace Anderson will join Fremantle Media, Danielle Abou Karam has joined SBS and Otto Khoo will join Sky News Australia’s Sydney bureau.

Michael Carrington, ABC Director Entertainment & Specialist, said: “We are delighted to welcome AFTRS graduate Belinda Parry to work on the production and development of flagship ABC Factual programs such as Catalyst and Compass. Opportunity is everything in this industry. And the ABC is proud to help emerging Australian creatives from diverse backgrounds to flourish.”

Nell Greenwood, AFTRS CEO, said: “AFTRS is so delighted with the expansion of the graduate program this year and the commitment and generosity of our partners. Internships are critical to building robust pipe-lines for Australian talent, and this program is an exciting opportunity for some of our most talented graduating students to hone their professional skills and creativity with the support of world-class production leaders.”

Peter Newman, CEO, Endemol Shine Australia said: “We at Endemol Shine Australia are thrilled to be a part of this valuable graduate program. In 2020 we have been extremely impressed with the calibre, passion and enthusiasm of the AFTRS students, as well as their impressive levels of creativity. We wish all the graduating students the best of luck with their careers in the television industry and very much look forward to welcoming Jaimie Conlon to ESA for her graduate placement in 2021.”

Chris Oliver-Taylor, CEO Asia Pacific, Fremantle Media, said: “Fremantle is thrilled to work closely with AFTRS on their graduate program. Part of the responsibilities of organisations like Fremantle is to ensure that the next generation of creative talent has the opportunity to work professionally in Australia. As such, we are delighted to be working with Grace Anderson, who is another example of world-class AFTRS-developed Australian talent.”

John Godfrey, Head of Unscripted, SBS, said: “We’re delighted to be a part of the AFTRS Graduate Program this year, providing important opportunities for the next generation of talent in our sector. At SBS, ensuring we’re supporting the development of emerging and diverse professionals is essential in contributing to storytelling that reflects and explores contemporary Australia, now and in the future. It’s great to have Danielle Abou Karam in the team, who is already working across some of our exciting new content for 2021.”

Paul Whittaker, Sky News Australia Chief Executive Officer, said: “The AFTRS Graduate Program is a terrific opportunity for a graduate to experience the intensive hands-on experience required to enter and thrive in the dynamic broadcast industry. Sky News Australia is proud to welcome Otto Khoo as our 2021 AFTRS Graduate Program recipient.”

AFTRS graduates gain transferrable experience, build relationships and further develop career goals through a 13-week paid work contract. Previous recipients have gone on to be offered casual, part and full-time employment with the host organisations.

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ABC launches the Australia Talks Data Explorer

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The results of Australia’s largest ever national survey are now available to all Australians to explore with the launch of the ABC’s Australia Talks Data Explorer .

ABC Managing Director David Anderson said making the data available would add to Australians’ understanding of ourselves and each other.

“The ABC’s Australia Talks survey gathered valuable information, providing insights into what is important to us,” he said. “It created a valuable resource that we want to be accessible to all Australians.”

For last year’s Australia Talks project, nearly 55,000 people across every State and Territory and in every federal electorate were asked almost 500 questions about their attitudes, behaviours and experiences across a broad range of topics — including health, happiness, relationships, racism, cost of living, work, national identity and values.

In its scale and scope it was unprecedented in Australia, reflecting the opinions of a far larger sample of the population than is captured by conventional public opinion research, aiming to create a better understanding of modern Australian life.

The resulting dataset is a valuable and significant contribution to Australian social science research.

Data Explorer allows all Australians to view the results of the national survey in detail. The online tool was developed by ABC News Story Lab and is easy and engaging to use.

All data are aggregated and anonymised so individuals are unidentifiable.

Restricted access to the anonymised raw data will be made available to approved researchers through a secure, remote-access facility. More information, including the application form, is available on the ABC corporate website.

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… oh I hope we’re not gonna have another all-singing, all dancing on-air launch hosted by Annabel Crabb and Waleed Aly

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Hello right wing Paul Murray fan. :smiley:

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… who’s Paul Murray?

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Educating Nick Tabakoff in The Australian on the 50:50 Project

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It’s a shame to see Nick Tabakoff in today’s The Australian misrepresenting the global 50:50 Project and the ABC’s efforts to help it succeed locally. Women being adequately represented in news coverage is best practice for most serious media organisations these days.

Among the item’s numerous factual inaccuracies:

  • The December deadline was for the challenge, not to reach 50:50 – that work is ongoing.
  • There’s only one full-time staffer on the project. (And she still doesn’t know what the prizes for the challenge winners are going to be.)
  • This work is not linked to anyone’s bonus.
  • No one has ever been asked to use less male talent. It has always been made clear that the best talent must always be used, regardless of gender. The point is to find more female voices – new talent.
  • This isn’t really a “military operation”.
  • The “urgent internal memo” was an email sent two months ago to more than 1000 people.
  • The project hadn’t fallen behind. Numbers had flattened due to a number of factors, including an increase in the volume of content due to coverage of the COVID pandemic.
  • The project covers multiplatform content, not just on-air.
  • The role of the Champions is to help support their teams in this work.
  • 50:50 is an aspirational goal – and a difficult one to achieve when you consider the skew in public leadership roles in this country. The purpose of the work is to increase the diversity of perspectives and experiences in our content. Given the global population is 51% female, we believe to be more relevant to our audience we should be representing them as equitably as possible.

Read more about the ABC’s 50:50 Project here and here and about the worldwide project here.

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The second and third sentences seem to be contradictory?

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… no, it’s not a shame … having worked at the ABC for many years and witnessed how HR-created projects have started taking precedence over actual ‘Broadcasting’ (you know, the ‘B’ in ‘ABC’) more members of the public (ABC shareholders) should be made aware of this and Nick’s tongue-in-cheek reference to Utopia is ideal as where do you think Sitch and co get their silly HR sub-plots from in the first place?

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This idiot runs ABC bashing stories weekly! Woeful editorializing just to try and own the left.

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Growing the overall number of female staff (voices/talent/etc.) doesn’t have to mean using less male talent, so it’s not inherently contradictory at all.

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There’s something I’m not quite understanding, when you have a finite number, by increasing A, B must decrease regardless of intent.

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There isn’t a finite number, though.

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Correcting David Hardaker in Crikey: The ABC in 2020

According to David Hardaker in today’s Crikey the ABC has just experienced an “annus horribilis” and a “truly terrible 2020”. But facts matter, and Crikey has failed to report many relevant facts about the ABC’s performance in the past 12 months.

While this year has undoubtedly been tough for the ABC – along with all media organisations and the entire community – it has also been a year of great achievement for the ABC in its service for audiences. In fact, in terms of our value to Australians, it has probably been the ABC’s strongest year ever.

In 2020:

  • ABC News has been the nation’s #1 digital news brand for the past 11 months and every day from late February to early November.
  • ABC News Digital’s average daily Australian audience is up 79% on 2019 to 2.2 million and its average monthly audience increased 38% to 12.5 million.
  • ABC TV was the #3 network in 2020, for the first time since 2013.
  • The ABC News channel achieved its highest-ever monthly reach in March at 6.4 million.
  • ABC TV was the only free-to-air network to experience significant growth in reach in 2020 (46.9%, up 1.4 pts on 2019).
  • ABC Kids is the #1 channel for children.
  • ABC Radio was the nation’s #1 radio network in 2020 (combined metro, regional and national), with a share of 25.3%. In total, our radio networks reached 37.2% of listeners across the five major capitals.
  • ABC listen is the #1 radio streaming app in Australia, with 644,000 average monthly users this year. In September, it hit a record of 759K users.
  • 15 of the top 20 ABC TV programs, across broadcast and ABC iview, were Australian.

Bushfires

  • Independent research commissioned by the ABC showed that lives were saved as a result of people acting on information provided by the ABC.
  • At the height of the bushfire crisis, ABC Sydney and ABC NSW Local Radio produced 296 hours of rolling fire coverage and the ABC undertook emergency broadcasting for more than 200 emergency events across the country. For many people, ABC Local Radio was the only way to access timely information.
  • The research also found the ABC is pivotal in supporting bushfire recovery in the community.

ABC NEWS

  • The ABC was Australia’s top source of coverage on all the major events of the year: the Black Summer bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, the Federal Budget, the US election and three State and Territory elections.
  • ABC NEWS has been the nation’s No 1 online news brand every month so far this year, and in March it set an Australian record digital audience of 15.2 million people. Even more importantly, engagement metrics such as time spent per user soared – well above any other news site.
  • ABC NEWS journalists won around 60 major national and state awards in 2020 – including Journalist of the Year in four States and Territories, the Lowy Institute Media award and Australian journalism’s hop honour, the Gold Walkley Award.
  • The ABC’s journalism and content had a huge impact on people’s lives. For example: the daily Coronacast podcast has had millions of downloads and streams. Since March we have received more than 130,000 COVID-related questions through our website to answer for audience members, with more than 300 still coming in every 24 hours. The SA newsroom broke a string of exclusives on the South Australian MPs’ expenses scandal, which led to multiple ministerial resignations. A joint Four Corners/Hack investigation caused a change in how dating apps operate to ensure assault investigations aren’t impeded.
  • Appointing Nas Campanella as Disability Affairs Correspondent has brought an extra dimension to our coverage of issues impacting people with a disability, including the Disability Royal Commission.
  • We welcomed threats of prosecution being dropped against Dan Oakes and Sam Clark over their ground-breaking Afghan Files reporting – which three years on was this year vindicated by the Brereton report.

Entertainment &Specialist

  • Launching the $5 million Fresh Start Fund provided urgent and critical support for independent Australian producers and creatives during the COVID-19 shutdown of the industry. The fund supported more than 200 Australian productions and new content ideas, including 60 Australian music projects, 44 children’s content ideas and productions, 30 comedies, 25 new Australian music works and triple j Unearthed “level up” grants to 16 emerging artists. Projects receiving development support included new natural history series, true crime stories, animations and digital short-form digital series from CALD creatives.
  • ABC iview now has its largest-ever collection of arts performances, across theatre, ballet, opera and classical music.
  • We expanded educational programming for school students forced to study at home, including teacher-led mini-lessons across English, maths and science (in partnership with state and territory education departments).
  • As performance areas went dark across Australia, ABC Classic kept the music going as Australia’s Concert Hall, working with musicians to livestream concerts and music events.
  • Awards won by ABC teams and content during the year included 19 AACTA Awards – more than any other broadcaster; three International Emmy Awards; the Eureka Prize for Science Journalism; two international Rose d’Or Awards; two golds at the New York Festivals Awards; and two Prix Jeunesse International Awards for outstanding children’s television.
  • We’re heading into the biggest ABC TV event of the year – the NYE broadcast and fireworks. Last year we raised $13 million for The Red Cross to support bushfire affected communities. This year we are partnering with Lifeline and Kids Helpline for those who have done it tough this year, particularly dealing with what the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown at us.

Regional & Local

  • ABC Radio (combined) ended 2020 as the nation’s No 1 radio network, with a share of 25.3%.
  • Our radio networks also reached 5.4 million people, or 37.2% of listeners, across the five major capital cities.
  • RN and ABC Classics had their highest audience share for 10 years.
  • ABC Local Radio had its highest share in four years.
  • While we didn’t have audience surveys for regional radio during 2020 we know we did well with our regional radio lives streams up 55 per cent on 2019 and our Facebook users up 63 per cent.
  • We’ve already raised more than $800,000 for families in need this Christmas through fundraisers on six of our capital city stations around the country. Sydney Local Radio recently raised around $250,000 for the The Smith Family.

In 2021:

  • The ABC has an open conversation with the Government and we’re looking forward to continuing that dialogue to ensure the best possible outcomes for the ABC and its audiences.
  • The ABC offers unique content to Australians, content commercial broadcasters don’t invest in, and we will continue to do so.
  • The ABC will continue to lead the way in creating a workforce and content offering that reflects the diversity contemporary Australia.
  • The Five-Year Plan released in July is our plan to transform the ABC into the content provider Australians expect today, tomorrow and into the future.
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Sharri Markson 2.0

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1024

… don’t say that out loud … they’ll cut the budget again …

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ABC review into Buyouts and Band 1 classifications

The ABC is committed to ensuring all employees are paid accurately and has undertaken a comprehensive review of both current and former employees and relevant ABC Enterprise Agreements.

The focus of this review, employees who have received a ‘buyout’ in lieu of overtime, penalties, allowances and other entitlements or employees who were engaged on a Band 1 classification, have been notified and reassured of the ABC’s commitment to meeting its obligations. The review will include anyone employed on a buyout or on a Band 1 classification from 1 July 2014 until now. We estimate this will account for roughly 1950 current or former employees and will take several months to complete.

The ABC is being assisted by Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) given the complexity of the review.

The ABC takes this matter very seriously and will continue to consult with relevant employees and their representatives. The Fair Work Ombudsman has also been notified and the ABC is liaising with them in relation to the review.

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