Australian Democrats leader Senator Lyn Allison said the ABCs independence from commercial advertising must be maintained and that the Government should increase funding to the national broadcaster.
The ban on ABC advertising has allowed the national broadcaster to develop and present programs without fear or favour. It doesnt sell junk food to children or create ads which portray women as dogs in car ads," Senator Allison said.
Communications Minister Helen Coonans reasoning is that this will increase revenues. Unfortunately, as the Howard Government has shown time and time again, as commercial advertising revenues increase, government funding, current affairs and Australian content - will decrease further, Senator Allison said.
Senator Humphries said this morning that there was a parallel case for allowing ads on the ABC because SBS had ads. SBS has about 2 percent of the Australian audience where as the ABC has about 12 percent audience share. We are talking about vastly different revenue streams and economies of scale.
The ABC has a different charter to SBS. The ABC provides a lifeline to regional Australia, informed current affairs reporting and makes a vital contribution to Australian culture.
One of the great success stories of the ABC with programs such as Four Corners, AM, PM and Background Briefing, to name just a few, is that the journalists and producers can run hard investigative stories against powerful commercial organisations.
When was the last time you saw Channel Nine do a hard hitting investigative piece on the Packer family investment in the gambling industry?
This amounts to a sell off of the ABCs independence. Yet if the Government is about to post a $12 billion surplus so the sell off isnt about money. Its a sign of a Government that has come to the end of its legislative agenda and is now taking aim at what it supposes is one of the lefts ideological sacred cows.
The Government could spend its time more productively by looking at the appalling amount and state of local film and TV content, especially in drama, rather than worrying about advertising, Senator Allison said.
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