The political independence of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Abstract

The Australlan Broadcasting Corporation, created in 1932 and reconstructed in 1983. is a public-fundod national broadcasting organisation. It was estabilshed to provide a oomprehensive, innovative and impartial radio and television service for all Australians. The ABC is a statutory corporation. intended to be accountable to Parliament for it's actions, but independent of the government of the day. Controversy about ABC news and current affairs serv1ces, about whether Corporation programs are obective, impartial, balanced and free from political interference, is a hardy perenial of Australian public life. The ABC'c public credibility depends on its perceived ability to function without government influence over program content. The ABC does not operate in isolation. It must negotiate for finance and resources with a federal bureaucracy 11nd conform to standards of accountability set by Parliament. Corporation claims to independence cannot be assessed in absolute terms, but must be viewed within its setting in a world of complex interaction between Parliament, the government and the Corporation. Within this framework, ABC independence must be viewed in two arenas - the administrative independence of the organisation to control and aliocate Its resources, and function a/ Independence to make program judgements without outside interference. This dissertation examines both dimensions of the contemporary ABC. Through institutional analysis it seeks to determine whether the ABC in practice enjoys the independence which in theory is guaranteed by its legislative form. The thesis opens with a discussion of the theoretlcal assumptions underlylng the ABC and a description of the organisation's environment: the origins of the ABC in the ideology of pubiic service broadcasting, Its place in the Australian broadcasting system and its relationship with governments and the Public Service. It is argued that the precise objectives and aims of the ABC have never been clear. that a lack of agreed goals makes it difficult for the organisation to win public aupport against governmental intervention in ABC administration, and that the structure of the Australian broadcasting system enables commercial media rivals to lobby governments to restrict the ABC to marginal activities. ABC decision-making is then examined: the influence of the ABC's legislative basis, structure, the role of the Board of Directors, ABC management, the internal allocation of resources and the work environment. The focus is on the relative involvemont of directors and managers on ABC output; it is argued that structural impediments limit the influence Directors can exercise over Corporation policy, while confused lines of responsibility, the structure of the organisation and the production process make it difficult for ABC managers to tightly control program output. With the external and internal context established, the production of ABC news and current affairs programs and the political control of ABC resources are examined. The study concludes with an assessment of whether the rhetoric of an independent but accountable ABC is realised, or whether the Corporation is part of the general machinery of government, with its independence a convenient fiction.