Spending $27m on refitting the building that they’re partially leaving has real Utopia vibes about the project
6 Likes
I reckon the ABC is spending $27 million in refitting the building so that some departments will move floors to join existing ones, in order to have 2-3 floors available for lease.
1 Like
totally. Such a huge waste of money for no material benefit. Then they will say that they’ve had to cut services/jobs to save a few dollars.
1 Like
Complete waste of money.
1 Like
ABC programs bring home a swag of awards from the 2023 New York Festivals Awards
ABC content has proven itself to be world class with our screen programs taking home a number of wins including five gold awards at the 2023 New York Festival Awards.
Factual programs and our in house creative agency ABC Made were the big winners with Catalyst specials taking home 3 awards and our ABC 90 Years campaign awarded two gold awards.
The two-part Catalyst special Keep on Dancing was awarded a gold in the Health/Medical Information category. The Heart-warming special formed part of our ABC Your Move programming and followed a group of over 65’s as they attempted to slow the effects of aging through dance.
Catalyst ’s Miracle Babies: Operation Hope was awarded gold in the Health/ Medical Information category. The program took an intimate look at the awe-inspiring world of fetal surgery in a story of hope and trailblazing medicine as parents face agonising decisions about their baby’s future.
Creative National Science Week Catalyst special Australia’s Favourite Tree was awarded a silver award in the Environment & Ecology category. The program profiled Australia’s unique tree species and saw 270,000 votes cast to determine which tree was Australia’s favourite.
The latest iteration of the incredibly successful social experiment, Old People’s Home for Teenagers also took home a gold award in the Social Issues category adding to the programs impressive run at home and on the world stage.
This season saw the uplifting series swap pre-schoolers for teenagers to see if they could transform the lives of older people and teenagers amid an epidemic of loneliness.
Of the awards, Richard Huddleston, ABC Acting Head of Factual and Culture said “I am delighted to see our content being recognised at such a prestigious global event. These awards are a testament to the quality of Australian storytelling and an acknowledgement of the creativity and passion that our teams pour into their work.”
The ABC’s brand campaign for our ABC 90 celebration was awarded two gold awards in the Station/Image Promotion and Station/Network ID categories.
Produced in-house by the ABC’s creative agency ABC Made, the campaign was filmed in four locations across Australia with ninety people in each location performing the iconic Bruce Woodley AO and Dobe Newton song, I am Australian.
ABC Director Audiences Leisa Bacon described the campaign as “A true celebration of our commitment to connecting Australians for the last 90 Years.”
The New York Festivals Radio Awards saw podcasts Pink Diamond Heist, Let Us In! and Beauty Queens Who Want to Save the World all recognised as finalists.
New York Festivals Awards form part of the prestigious New York Festivals which honour screen and audio content from around the world.
1 Like
The Australian reports 94.4% of ABC staff voted in favour of the new pay deal.
ABC and Screen Australia on the hunt for more Fresh Blood
The ABC and Screen Australia team are once again teaming up to uncover the next generation of great Australian comedy talent through the hugely successful Fresh Blood initiative.
Submissions are now open for new and emerging comedy acts to apply. Creators from all backgrounds, abilities, and identities who meet the selection criteria are encouraged to apply.
As part of the joint initiative to unearth a new generation of comedic talent, 10 teams will receive $50,000 to produce 3 x 5min comedy shorts and will participate in a workshop to be held in Sydney, in August 2023. These shorts will premiere simultaneously on ABC and creators’ social media platforms.
From there, up to 3 teams will be selected to create a longer pilot between 20-27 minutes in length, with potential to be commissioned by the ABC as a series.
We’re looking for applicants with original comedy ideas. They can be narrative, sketch, vertical, as long as the ideas are fresh, the comedy is strong and has the potential to be developed into a full series. Ultimately, want to be surprised.
Since Fresh Blood began in 2013 the initiative has launched the careers of countless acts including the rock stars of comedy, Aunty Donna, and the animated series Koala Man, featuring the voices of Hugh Jackman and Sarah Snook.
Screen Australia’s Head of Online Lee Naimo said, “We are so thrilled to be joining the ABC once again in supporting a new wave of comedic talent through the Fresh Blood initiative. We’ve seen first-hand the launchpad that this initiative provides, through the ongoing success of alumni like Skit Box, Nina Oyama and Angus Thompson and the team from Why Are You Like This. I can’t wait to see the doors it opens for the new crop of talent that comes through this time around.”
Nick Hayden, ABC Head of Entertainment said, “Fresh Blood continues the tradition of the ABC supporting new comedic voices. Sometimes those voices tell us, ‘she doesn’t even go here’ other times ‘ok, boomer’. Whatever they say this time, we’re excited to see what this new crop can dream up!”
Todd Abbott, ABC Head of Comedy said, “One of the ABC’s most important roles is to find and nurture new comedy talent, and Fresh Blood provides a great opportunity to open the gates and amp up that search.”
For further information about the Fresh Blood initiative or to apply please visit the Fresh Blood website or read the guidelines.
Applications close 4pm, Monday 29 May 2023.
ABC Farewells Head of Drama, Entertainment and Indigenous Sally Riley
After 13 years with the ABC, Sally Riley, the ABC’s Head of Drama, Entertainment and Indigenous, has announced she is leaving the public broadcaster.
Since joining the ABC in 2010 as the inaugural Head of the Indigenous Department at ABC Television, Sally has played a key role in developing and bringing to audiences programs that are entertaining, thought provoking and reflective of Australia’s national identity.
ABC Managing Director David Anderson thanked Sally for her many contributions not only to the ABC but to the Australian screen industry.
“Sally has not just been responsible for developing and producing an impressive body of screen productions but has also fostered and supported key talent at all stages of the creative process,” he said.
“Sally’s passion and creative drive have delivered to our screens many of the stories and programs Australians love and expect of their public broadcaster. I’m sure everyone at the ABC will join me in congratulating her for her achievements and in looking forward to the projects Sally will deliver next.”
Sally Riley said: “As much as I have enjoyed my time at the ABC, it’s time for me to focus on new creative opportunities.
“I am incredibly grateful to the ABC. During my time here I have been supported to commission ground-breaking shows and take risks that I’m not sure would happen anywhere else. I have had the honour to work with the best creatives and executives in Australia and the world.
“I’m also proud of the work that the Bonner Committee has done in increasing the profile of First Nations people and content, both inside and outside the organisation. I’m confident this work will continue from strength to strength with a new generation of incredible people.”
Among her achievements, Sally was Executive Producer on both the award-winning film Mabo and the acclaimed series Redfern Now, the first television drama commissioned, written, acted and produced by Indigenous Australians and won the 2013 Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Drama Series.
In 2016 Sally was appointed as Head of Scripted Production where her commissions included Stateless, Fires, Preppers, Cleverman, Mystery Road, Total Control, Aftertaste, Black Comedy, Janet King, Wakefield and The Newsreader.
The same year she was named as one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers for her support of First Nations people in the entertainment industry. In 2020 she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the governing body of the Oscars, in recognition of her drive to champion diverse storytelling in Australia.
A Wiradjuri woman, Sally’s advocacy for Indigenous self-representation and work in developing initiatives to bring about increased participation by Indigenous artists has earned her respect across the Australian media industry. This includes her leadership as Chair of the ABC’s Bonner Committee.
Sally was awarded the Australian Public Service Medal in 2008 for her role in the development of initiatives that have increased the participation of Indigenous Australians in the film and television industry.
In 2022 she was recognised by Screen Producers Australia as the inaugural recipient of the Commissioner of the Year Award.
Sally will leave the ABC in July. Acting arrangements will be announced in coming weeks.
1 Like
2023 Federal Budget response – ABC Welcomes Five-Year Funding
The ABC welcomes the funding certainty delivered in the 2023 Federal Budget, the first of the new five-year funding cycle. In a rapidly changing media environment, the budget provides financial stability and allows the ABC to continue delivering on its charter, serving Australian audiences across the country and in our region.
It is particularly important that the Government has decided to incorporate the Enhanced Newsgathering (ENG) program into the ABC’s ongoing operational funding base. The ENG program, which supports around 70 journalists and content makers, delivers more tailored news to local communities and has allowed the ABC to invest further in specialist resources that provide vital context and analysis. The program has been operating since 2012-13 as a terminating measure and has been renewed three times.
Ongoing funding for audio description (AD) services has also been rolled into the ABC’s base funding. The ABC’s commitment to audio description services has been vital for blind or visually impaired audiences. In the last financial year, the ABC broadcast 1260 hours of unique audio-description content including many premiere events or first-possible releases, across broadcast multi-channels. The funding allocation means AD services will be extended to ABC iview.
The ABC also welcomes the additional investment into the distribution of Australian content throughout the region as part of the Indo Pacific Broadcasting Strategy.
This funding will enable the ABC to increase the return on investment in Pacific focused content which it is already creating under the 2022 funding envelope of the Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy. A significant component of the funding announced in this budget will be directed towards further expansion of the FM footprint of ABC Radio Australia.
Our research shows that FM radio transmission is the most cost-effective medium with the highest potential to reach audiences in the region. The ABC is already achieving substantial success with new content under increased Government funding including the flagship pan-Pacific news program for TV and video on demand The Pacific.
ABC Managing Director David Anderson said: “The five-year budget allocation reflects the ABC’s important role in Australian life and the value it delivers to the community.
“The funding provides a solid foundation as the ABC continues to evolve its services to meet the needs of Australian audiences. The next five years will be crucial to the ABC as we navigate significant changes in media consumption, industry-wide cost pressures and increasing requirements to modernise and adapt to new technology.
“The funding certainty provided by the Budget is vital, as it enables the ABC to plan with confidence. Notwithstanding the five-year funding outcome, the ABC will need to meet the challenge of upward cost pressure, and position itself to continue to be trusted, relevant and valued by all Australians into the future.
“I will soon announce a new Five-Year Plan setting out the ABC’s priorities. The plan will ensure that we embrace the opportunities of the future, and that the ABC remains the most important cultural institution for all Australians.”
1 Like
UPDATE 11/5
ABC response to Nine mastheads
The following set of responses was provided to Nine mastheads (SMH and The Age) on 26 May 2023. Questions from Nine journalist Osman Faruqi are in bold.
Q: A number of current ABC staff, including both Indigenous and other non-white journalists, told me that they feel that they have a harder time pitching stories and getting them approved, especially if they relate to their communities, than their white colleagues. Does the ABC have a response to this?
ABC: This issue was raised during the diversity forums. Since last year ABC News has been running inclusive journalism training for our journalists, which focuses on journalists better understanding how to tell stories for and about diverse communities.
Currently we are developing an inclusive teams project which will see all News teams create their own plans identifying concrete actions to ensure an inclusive culture and setting achievable milestones to measure progress. Part of this is looking at how every team works together and communicates day to day, including around the discussion of stories. The pilot for this project has just been completed.
Last year News created the first-ever Indigenous Reporting Team and created the new role of Head, Indigenous News, held by Suzanne Dredge, the first First Nations woman on the ABC News Executive.
Q: Another common allegation was the feeling that the ABC was more willing to defend white colleagues than Indigenous colleagues (In particular, comparisons were made between Lisa Millar and Patricia Karvelas, and Carly Williams and Stan Grant). Does the ABC have a response on the perceived racialised bias in terms of who is publicly defended by the organisation?
ABC: It’s no exaggeration to say the ABC is constantly putting out comments and statements and providing information defending our journalists and journalism against unjustified attacks — multiple every week, amounting to dozens a year.
There is no racial bias or any other type of bias in who we defend; we defend whoever is being unfairly criticised or attacked.
Most of these are direct comments, statements or information provided in response to media queries and most of them go unseen. For example, we defended one Indigenous journalist just last Sunday after a newspaper contacted us about a post on her personal Instagram account.
There are also many other ways we go into bat for our people. For example, we lodge complaints with Twitter and Facebook over the publication of abusive content. We complain on behalf of staff members over their treatment in external media stories. We defend them against unfair criticism by politicians.
We also publish public statements at times. Recent examples include statements supporting Patricia Karvelas, Lisa Millar, Louise Milligan, Tony Armstrong, Russell Jackson and Mark Willacy, as well as Stan Grant last week.
A public statement or comment from the ABC immediately makes the issue newsworthy and ensures it will get extensive media attention, so that has to be weighed up. We need to follow the rule, first, don’t make it worse. The conventional wisdom says to not draw further attention to a media or social media pile-on so as not to fuel it.
There are few examples of any other media outlet regularly issuing public statements about its employees – maybe because their employees aren’t as targeted. However, our approach is under active consideration. As Managing Director David Anderson said at Senate Estimates on Wednesday: “Dignified silence isn’t working anymore.”
Q: Numerous current and former ABC journalists also told me that because non-white staff were far more likely to be the target of far-right trolls, as well as conservative media outlets like Sky News and The Australian, management’s unwillingness to support them, or their decisions to discipline them for speaking out, fed into their perception of racism at the ABC. Does the ABC have a response to that?
ABC: We don’t comment in the media on internal staffing matters.
As outlined above, there’s no unwillingness to support any employees. If an employee feels a manager has been unsupportive, they have a range of options for raising that concern, including with the peer-based Diversity Advocates Network.
The acknowledgement of the risk of racial abuse ABC staff face is built into all aspects of the ABC’s approach to online safety.
Q: In terms of the review into racism completed in 2022, which led to Justin [Stevens] issuing an apology, what specific actions did the ABC take to change its processes and policies?
ABC: There will be more information on this, including the specific News response, in the [updated] Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Plan which will be released in a few weeks. The Plan has been developed over many months following input from stakeholders across the ABC, most notably from the ABC’s Bonner committee, the diversity forums held with staff and the Diversity & Inclusion Standing Committee, as well as our employee networks such as the ABC Belong and ABC Pride networks.
This is ongoing work, but actions so far include:
- Out of the Staff Indigenous Conference last week the News Director set up a monthly meeting with Indigenous News employees; the first one has already taken place.
- Running an ABC-wide series of diversity and inclusion forums led by the Managing Director.
- Extending the inclusive journalism training that was already being run to more teams.
- Providing managers with renewed training on supporting employees with abuse on social media, especially Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse people, people with a disability and women, who are particularly targeted.
- Revisiting our onboarding processes to ensure there’s greater awareness of peer support networks and ways to raise concerns and issues in a safe space.
- Familiarising managers with the resources available to guide and support our people when issues arise.
A major piece of work will be the inclusive teams project (mentioned above), in which each team will create its own plan identifying concrete actions to ensure an inclusive culture and setting achievable milestones to measure progress.
Actions that were already in place or underway include:
- Hiring an Indigenous and Diversity HR Case Advocate to actively support and help Indigenous and diverse staff who want to raise issues of exclusion, racism and discrimination.
- Establishing a Diversity Advocates Network to provide peer-based support for staff on diversity and inclusion matters.
- Publishing the News Diversity Action Plan and establishing the News Diversity Advisory Group, a staff-led group that advises the News Executive.
- Creating a toolkit for Managers on How to Build an Inclusive Culture and Challenge Racism and Discrimination in the Workplace.
- Rolling out a range of diversity training courses including “Building an Inclusive Culture” and Indigenous cultural awareness.
- Inclusive journalism training which supports and increases diverse voices in our content.
- Addressing our recruitment practices to improve our efforts to find more candidates who are Indigenous, from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and People with Disability.
- Forming ABC-wide staff-led groups such as ABC Pride, supporting LGBTQIA+ employees; ABC Belong, supporting CALD staff; and ABC Inclusive, supporting people with a disability.
- Working with the Bonner Committee as the peak Indigenous advisory group.
Q: Has the ABC met its target to have 15% of executives from CALD backgrounds? What is the proportion of executives who are Indigenous or not-white?
ABC: The current data has CALD Executives at 22.3%.
Q: And finally, another common issue raised by current staff who spoke to me was the silence from the chair of the ABC on this issue in the past week. Does the chair have a statement on Stan Grant’s experiences, and the numerous examples raised this week around racism at the ABC?
The Chair spoke about this today.
In addition to the answers provided above, the following statement was also provided to Nine and other media.
ABC Managing Director David Anderson has, in consultation with the Bonner Committee, announced a review to investigate and make recommendations about ABC responses to racism affecting staff, and what additional support can be provided to staff who are subjected to racist or other forms of discriminatory behaviour.
Mr Anderson has today consulted with senior ABC Diversity Leads about how the review panel will work and who will lead it. Current and former employees will be invited to share their experiences.
The ABC has zero tolerance for racism in the workplace, as well as bullying, harassment, discrimination or any antisocial behaviour. All ABC employees deserve to feel welcomed, included, supported and safe in our workplace. Any such behaviour is investigated when complaints are made, and actions taken when warranted.
Response to The Australian on its claims regarding racist Twitter “comments”
This response was sent to The Australian on Thursday 25 May 2023 in in response to its claims that the ABC was “carrying racist comments on its Twitter pages”.
Response from a spokesperson
Noting your story has already been published.
There is no such thing as a ” Twitter page” on which comments can be posted and moderated.
All posts on Twitter are individual user posts published by the user. Twitter accounts don’t “carry” other users’ posts.
Twitter is not the ABC’s “own social media platform”.
There is no such thing as “Twitter comments” which can be moderated. You also can’t “turn comments off”.
Media outlets can’t moderate posts by other Twitter users. The ability to reply to posts can be disabled, but the ABC, as with most/all media organisations, does this rarely and under specific circumstances.
Including The Australian.
This was pointed out to Sophie Elsworth yesterday by a Twitter user:
Even if replies are turned off, posts can obviously still be reposted by other users and others can post replies to that.
Due to the increasing incidence of toxic posts on Twitter the ABC has already significantly reduced its presence on the platform and is looking at further measures.
However, on the subject of comments, The Australian is publishing thousands of comments on its platform, including many offensive ones – some potentially even what Noel Pearson described in in The Australian as “borderline casual racist”.
These comments are presumably moderated.
Stan Grant exit: ABC boss David Anderson announces racism review | The Australian – published Monday 22 May – 693 comments
Stan Grant quits Q+A, accuses ABC of lack of support | The Australian – published Friday 19 May – 1164 comments
ABC staff lead false claims against News Corp | The Australian – published Wednesday 24 May – 114 comments
Stan Grant, ABC, Patricia Karvelas, Q+A: Aunty should stand for quality journalism, says Janet Albrechtsen and Tom Switzer | The Australian – published Wednesday 24 May – 939 comments
Offensive slurs littered across ABC social media accounts following Stan Grant’s departure – published Wednesday 24 May – 154 comments
ffs. was this another Elsworth “journalism”?
1 Like
Analysis of ABC Coronation coverage by News Corporation
The Australian’s Media web page on Friday 26 May – every story but one is about the ABC
A statement released by the ABC on Friday 19 May regarding the media treatment of journalist Stan Grant since the 6 May Coronation panel discussion referred to “a tirade of criticism, particularly in the usual sections of the media that target the ABC” that had contributed to fueling the abuse he subsequently experienced.
We have received requests to quantify the scope of the “tirade” and The Australian has accused “high-profile figures at the ABC” of “peddling false claims about the extent of News Corp’s reporting”, which it described as “modest”.
The ABC has conducted an analysis of the News Corp reporting, which found that between 6 May and 20 May (the date range used by The Australian) more than 240 stories were published across the News Corp network (print and online).
The analysis found that on news.com.au there were at least 25 stories published. It found that on Sky News at least 30 program episodes discussed the ABC’s coronation coverage and there were more than 25 stories published on Sky News online.
This data is not exhaustive. The ABC has sourced the data from an independent media monitoring service.
Similar comments here:
Coronation panel discussion complaints
Clarification has been sought on the number and type of complaints received regarding the ABC’s Coronation panel discussion.
As of 24 May, the ABC had received around 170 good faith, actionable complaints.
Of these, around 110 were general in nature and 61 raised a potential Editorial Policies issue and were referred to the Ombudsman’s Office for investigation.
The Ombudsman found the Coronation panel did not breach the ABC’s editorial standards, noting the 45 minute discussion formed only part of the extensive coverage of the Coronation, that there were no accuracy concerns and that the role of the Monarchy to modern Australia and the Indigenous perspectives presented were legitimate and newsworthy topics for discussion on the rare occasion of a Coronation and in the context of ABC’s extensive coverage.
While there have been around 1832 audience contacts more than 1100 of those were either racist or abusive content, or did not raise a substantive issue, and are not considered good-faith complaints.
ABC response to The Australian – 21 May 2023
Questions from The Australian
The Australian: On May 7, ABC Comms told me that “on behalf of all” of the senior figures at the ABC whom I approached for comment on that day about the broadcaster’s coverage, not a single one wished to comment (including the Chair). Why didn’t anyone at the ABC wish to publicly stand by remarks made by Stan Grant during his appearance on the coronation panel show?
ABC response: On 7 May a comprehensive statement defending the coverage was released by a spokesman on behalf of the ABC and provided to The Australian’s Media Writer Sophie Elsworth and Media Editor James Madden. It said:
The ABC brought full coverage of the Coronation of King Charles III to Australians across its television and digital radio platforms and to audiences across the Asia Pacific via ABC Australia and Radio Australia. In addition to the live coverage of the Coronation, ABC iview featured special programming, including Charles R: The Making Of A Monarch; Camilla’s Country Life; A Grand Royal Design; and Prince Charles: Inside The Duchy Of Cornwall.
Preceding the ceremonial events, as part of the comprehensive coverage ABC News canvassed an array of perspectives and views on the role of the monarch in 21st century Australia. The large number of guests across the evening included Q+A presenter Stan Grant; co-chair of the republican movement Craig Foster; Liberal MP Julian Leeser; writer Kathy Lette; lawyer, writer and Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman Teela Reid; 2023 Australian Local Hero of the Year Amar Singh; Youth Advocate Angelica Ojinnaka; Constitutional Law Professor and Coronation expert Anne Twomey; long-time Royal correspondent Juliet Rieden from The Australian Women’s Weekly; and Michael Stead, Anglican Bishop of South Sydney.
The role of the national broadcaster is to facilitate conversations that reflect the diversity of views in the community. Hearing from Indigenous Australians and reflecting on Australia’s history is an important part of this, especially as this year Australians will vote in a referendum on whether a First Nations Voice to Parliament should be included in the nation’s Constitution.
In their subsequent story (“ABC coronation coverage labelled ‘bile’”) Elsworth and Madden failed to publish any of this statement at all, despite quoting at length radio presenters Neil Mitchell and Ray Hadley strongly criticising the discussion.
A second story (“ABC coverage of King Charles’s coronation ‘totally misread the mood, says Neil Mitchell”) again quoted Neil Mitchell and Ray Hadley, as well as Warren Mundine and Eric Abetz, all strongly criticising the discussion, but included only some of the ABC’s statement near the bottom of the approximately 1800-word story.
Sophie Elsworth subsequently criticised the ABC for defending the coverage, saying on Sky News: “The ABC have stood by this coverage, it’s nothing short of disgraceful. The national broadcaster has a lot of answer for but as usual they have stood by their coverage.”
The Australian: On Friday, Justin Stevens said in his statement: “Any complaints, criticism – or vitriol – regarding the coverage should be directed to me, not to him (Stan Grant).” Why did Mr Stevens decline to answer questions on the controversy about the panel show when it first arose?
ABC response: See above.
The Australian: Did the ABC fail in its duty of care to publicly support Stan Grant, given that it was management who scheduled the panel show and is ultimately responsible for what goes to air?
ABC response: All the panelists involved in the Coronation discussion were spoken to and supported by the ABC.
A public statement by Director, News Justin Stevens addressing the particular abuse directed at Stan Grant, and a personal column on the issue by Mr Grant, were published by the ABC on Friday 19 May.
ABC Managing Director David Anderson has commented: “The ABC is never above scrutiny or criticism. However, the nature of the anti-ABC reporting from some commercial media outlets is sustained and vitriolic. This has real-world consequences for ABC presenters and journalists who are personally attacked and vilified.
“How the ABC supports people in these moments is important. Stan Grant has stated that he has not felt publicly supported. For this, I apologise to Stan. The ABC endeavours to support its staff in the unfortunate moments when there is external abuse directed at them.”
The Australian: In the past 36 hours, two former non-white ABC employees, Osman Faruqi and Michael Hing, have spoken of their negative experiences at the public broadcaster, including a failure by “white management teams” to recognise and act on racial abuse. Has the ABC approached Faruqi and/or Hing to find out more? Does the ABC think those criticisms are valid?
ABC response: The ABC has zero tolerance for racism in the workplace, as well as bullying, harassment, discrimination or any antisocial behaviour. Any such behaviour must be investigated and actions taken when warranted. All ABC employees deserve to feel welcomed, included, supported and safe in the workplace. There is an ABC-wide mandatory reporting system for all safety incidents, including cybersafety incidents.
The Australian: In late March, Stan Grant publicly raised issues with the ABC’s lack of diversity with regards to its NSW election night panel. What discussions did the ABC have with Grant in the wake of his complaint?
ABC response: We do not comment on private discussions.
The Australian: With regards to social media and trolling, does the ABC Comms think it’s appropriate to tag journalists on social media in the course of releasing press statements? What is the ABC’s policy on this (noting that it was once a common practice)?
ABC response: Using tags is common practice on Twitter. However, observing the changing nature of Twitter discourse, the ABC Communications account stopped tagging individuals in mid 2022. Prior to that journalists were sometimes tagged in responses to their published reporting.
We note that Sophie Elsworth was tagged in six tweets in 2021 and one in March 2022, all responding to inaccurate claims she published regarding the ABC, including in her Twitter posts.
What is it, take out the trash day in the ABC’s Comms team?
1 Like
National NAIDOC Committee and ABC announce partnership celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander excellence
The National NAIDOC Committee and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are proud to announce that the ABC has been appointed the Official Broadcast and Education Partner of National NAIDOC Week 2023.
The National NAIDOC Committee acknowledges the ABC’s long-time support of National NAIDOC Week which, this year, will run from Sunday 2 July through to Sunday 9 July.
As Official Broadcast Partner, the ABC will telecast the NAIDOC Awards Ceremony live from Meanjin Brisbane from 7.30pm (AEST) on Saturday July 1. The awards will be hosted by the award-winning star of ABC TV’s Mystery Road: Origin, proud Nyikina man, actor, writer, and producer, Mark Coles Smith and multi award-winning singer/songwriter, Casey Donovan. The National NAIDOC Week Award Ceremony will also be available for streaming on ABC iview and will be simulcast on National Indigenous Television (NITV).
ABC Indigenous will lead the ABC’s 2023 National NAIDOC Week campaign, with content divisions across all platforms coming together to celebrate First Nations Excellence with ABC’s national audiences.
Steven Satour, Co-Chair of the National NAIDOC Committee said:
“There is no other week – or celebration – as meaningful as National NAIDOC Week to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The National NAIDOC Week Awards Ceremony is the premiere event of National NAIDOC Week and presents an opportunity for all Australians to come together to celebrate the rich history, diverse culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the oldest continuing cultures on this planet. The National NAIDOC Committee is proud to share this celebration with ABC audiences.”
ABC Managing Director, David Anderson encouraged ABC audiences to join in the celebrations.
“NAIDOC Week is a wonderful opportunity to be involved, learn and celebrate the continued history, culture, excellence and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country,” Mr Anderson said.
“We’re delighted to be the official NAIDOC 2023 Broadcast and Education Partner and we want to ensure National NAIDOC Week is not only part of the national conversation but a universally celebrated part of this country’s identity.”
ABC Education will also produce a downloadable resource for teachers, created by Aboriginal and Torres Strait educators at Culture is Life in collaboration with National NAIDOC Committee Co-Chair and highly respected educator, Dr Lynette Riley. This resource will focus on this year’s National NAIDOC Week Theme, For Our Elders, and will also be distributed as a printed resource by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA).
“I have been involved in developing these educational resources for many years, and this year we have a unique opportunity to educate the wider community about the role of our Elders. The theme For Our Elders is particularly pertinent as our Elders have guided us to the present day and continue to play a very important role in our communities. These educational resources will not only provide exemplary lessons but will also develop student and teacher skills so that they continue their life-long learning and create change in the Australian community.”
In addition to the themed resource, teachers will have access to the range of resources from ABC Kids Listen, Behind the News and the education collection on ABC iview.
ABC’s Head of Indigenous, Kelrick Martin, said the new partnership gave the national broadcaster even greater opportunities to tell a wider range of stories for, by and about Indigenous Australians.
“Our Indigenous content makers will be leading the conversations and working with their ABC colleagues around the country to produce our largest ever NAIDOC Week program which includes specially commissioned content for ABC TV, ABC Radio, ABC digital and ABC iview.”
The ABC will release its full NAIDOC Week content schedule in coming weeks.
1 Like
Seriously ?