Friends of the ABC's Annual General Meeting for 2007 will be held at 12 noon, Sunday 11 November at the Town Hall in Ross. Please bring a plate for lunch. The website will be updated shortly with information about our guest speaker for the meeting.
For queries, please contact Anne O'Byrne on (03) 6331 1108 or aobyrne@bigpond.net.au.
News Ltd "journalist" Piers Akerman attacked Friends of the ABC recently in his Sunday Telegraph column, claiming that the organisation is a front for the Labor Party.
Here is the response from Friends of the ABC national spokesman, Prof. Alan Knight.
A response has also been provided by Darce Cassidy from Friends of the ABC South Australia. Darce Cassidy also explains here how Piers Akerman has inflated his figures on ABC funding. It ought to be noted that the use of targeted funding has meant that base funding has declined in real terms. The consequence is a failure of the ABC to maintain its core activities.
A good example is drama production. In 2004–05 the ABC produced 20 hours of Australian drama, compared with 102 hours in 2001. The decline was stemmed by targeted funding for drama production in the 2006-07 budget. However, the additional funding has not brought drama production close to its previous level.
The next Northern action group meeting will be held 11am, Saturday 28 July 2007 in Room 4 at Adult Education, York Street, Launceston.
A draft Federal election strategy will be discussed.
The next Southern action group meeting will be held 5.15pm on Tuesday 24 July 2007 upstairs at the Republic Bar & Cafe. Special guest speaker will be Jeff Malpas, Professor of Philosophy from the University of Tasmania.
A draft Federal election strategy will be discussed.
ABC is way out in front as source of news and current affairs. A recent Morgan Research study has found that the ABC is the leading source for Australian news and current affairs in the electronic media.
Forty five per cent of Australians aged 14 and over rely on ABC TV for Australian news, up from 39.5 per cent in August 2004. The percentage of people relying on ABC Radio for their Australian news has risen from 28% to 31% over the same period. When the ABC's Triple J station is added the total ABC Radio figure is 34.5%
ABC TV is also the leading source for international news and current affairs, with SBS TV a close second, and the commercials way behind. While newspapers remain an important source (second after TV with radio as the third most popular source) their readership is falling.
Full details of the poll are available at the Roy Morgan website.
50 people attended our celebration of the ABC's 75th birthday at the Republic in Hobart.
A copy of ABC staff member, Nigel Whitehead's, speech can be viewed here.
The ABC turns 75 on the 1st of July and we're having a party! Friends of the ABC Tasmania will be celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the first broadcast from the ABC on the 1st of July 1932.
The Birthday Party is part of the Friends of the ABC's National Day of Action.
We will be holding celebrations in both Launceston and Hobart (see local details below). Join us to show your support for "Aunty".
Launceston
Friends of the ABC will be gathering at Fluid Restaurant, Launceston Seaport at 2pm.
Hobart
A Birthday Party will be held from 12-2pm upstairs at the Republic Bar & Cafe in Elizabeth Street, Hobart. Drinks can be purchased at the bar. Complimentary light refreshments will be served and you can also share in the birthday cake. Guest Speakers for the event will include:
- Doug Lowe, former Premier of Tasmania.
- Jeff Malpas, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tasmania.
- Nigel Whitehead, ABC staff member.
If you would like to help us promote the event, please feel free to use this promotional flyer.
The ABC's Managing Director, Mark Scott will be appearing on Radio National's austalia-wide talkback program, Australia Talks, 6pm on Friday 29 June 2007. If you want to listen to the show, a list of Radio National frequencies for Tasmania is available here.
Mark Scott will be answering questions submitted by listeners. To submit a question to Mr Scott, visit the following link to the Australia Talks website: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/australiatalks/contact/.
Alternatively you can post your comments to Australia Talks, GPO Box 9994, Brisbane, Queensland, 4001.
If you do not get a chance to post your comments then you can try and call the show on the night on 1300 22 55 76 (or 1300 CALL RN).
Once every year, state/territory-based Friends of the ABC organisations get together to hold a national conference. The 2007 Friends of the ABC National Conference was held Saturday & Sunday the 12th & 13th of May in Melbourne.
The following is the transcript of an address given to the conference by Professor Alan Knight:
Like many of you, I am old enough to remember when mainstream media pretty much had a monopoly on mass communications.
Not any more.
Indeed mainstream media, such as the ABC will need to re-invent themselves to avoid being marginalised in an interactive globalised world information order.
Friends of the ABC's Annual General Meeting for 2006 will be held on 12 November at the Town Hall in Ross. Please bring a plate for lunch. The guest speaker will be former ABC presenter, Anne Fitzgerald.
For queries, please contact Anne O'Byrne on (03) 6331 1108 or aobyrne@bigpond.net.au.