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ABC is ‘broken’: former boss

A former chairman of the ABC has declared the public broadcasting model is broken.

Writing in The Australian, Maurice Newman believes that public broadcasters face new and possibly terminal challenges in modern democracy, citing numerous scandals engulfing the BBC over the past three decades.

Newman also feels that as public broadcasters cater to audiences that are narrowing, increased funding is hard to justify.

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“With governments everywhere confronting huge bud­getary challenges, public broadcasters must face reality,” Newman wrote.

“No longer can they, to quote British Chancellor George Osborne, pursue “imperial ambitions”. If remaining relevant means providing services already on offer from the market, funding is likely to be withdrawn.

“Competing directly with mainstream news­papers will increasingly raise cries of competitive neutrality. The boundaries of the public service remit are likely to be more tightly defined.

“The dilemma for public broadcasters is that as they have expanded, they have lost sight of their original purpose and core values.

“In any event, the demonstrable failure of public broadcasters to govern themselves means external regulation will be imposed.

“Britain’s communications regulator Ofcom may be given this role for the BBC, while Australia and Canada will probably adopt a similar approach. Public broadcasting charters will be made more contemporary but there is a risk they will also facilitate more political interference, raising suspicions of state propaganda.

“All this suggests that the present public broadcasting model is broken.

“Its place in a modern democracy faces new, possibly terminal, challenges.

“As it caters to narrowing audiences, increased funding will be hard to justify, especially when respectable private alternatives exist and technology is opening up even more opportunities to be informed, educated and entertained.

“It has become hard for those championing the public broadcasting cause not to look increasingly like a vocal minority of self-interested elites trying to hang on to their expensive, middle-class, welfare.”

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