verging_on_random

I’ll take the money

April 17, 2007 on 1:27 pm | In Uncategorized |

Remember when the ABC ran commercials trying to bolster public support? They emphasised that it only cost us eight cents a day each to run the national broadcaster. Well having given the matter careful consideration I think I’d prefer to take the money and leave, thanks.

Eight cents a day then is probably at least 10 now … that’s $36.50 a year. Enough for a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black every Christmas, which would be better value than the second-rate stuff on the ABC these days.

All I ever bother to watch is the 7 o’clock news and maybe the 7.30 Report depending on the stories. Last night was a typical display of mediocrity. Most of the ‘news’ consisted of a rehash of the Sydney Morning Herald’s news pages, which is par for the course now. In the middle of this was a shameless cross-promotion for a show they were going to run at 8 o’clock about the Tasmanian guys who got trapped in the mine last year. Presenting it as ‘news’ was blatantly dishonest.

The 7.30 Report then gave us an extended story about … Kevin Rudd and the tremendous scandal surrounding the fact that people from Rudd’s office knew that a television station was trying to change the timing of an Anzac Day media event in Vietnam to suit the local schedule, or something, I haven’t taken enough interest in it to understand all the details. The ‘analysis’ was provided by Melbourne journalist Mark Day who did a nice line in empty pontification until I thought “Why TF am I watching this shit?” and turned it off.

Really, free-to-air television is on its last legs. DVDs had it on the ropes and true high speed broadband will deliver the knockout punch. Any pretence that the ABC was a bastion of high quality, impartial current affairs reporting has been comprehensively discredited by Howard’s mob. They should sell off the ABC while it’s still worth something and leave it to the market to cater to the TV audience. Some people might still be prepared to pay to watch John Howard refuse to answer Kerry O’Brien’s questions; I’m buggered if I can see why I should have to.