Page 487 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 8 March 2006
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in general, I believe. We have all grown up being used to our ABC, but what if it were no longer there?
The media landscape has changed very dramatically and very rapidly of late. Terry Flew, a media and communications academic at the Queensland University of Technology, identifies how this change has taken place. What he calls the three Cs of convergent media are: communications networks, content and computing. For a media organisation to remain relevant and dynamic in today’s new media environment, it needs to have expertise in all three of the fields I have just mentioned. Gone are the days of a simple broadcast via the television set or over-the-wireless network. Media organisations must provide content over a vast range of communication networks and technologies and must let these networks and technologies feed into its content.
Australians are looking for flexible and diverse ways to access their information. Digital television, podcasts and mobile telephony, to name but a few, are now coming on board. Moreover, people are looking for information relevant to them. It is not just the academics or the ABC saying this. Media baron Rupert Murdoch, in a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in April 2005, said:
We’re now seeing a revolution in the way young people are accessing news … they want their news on demand, when it works for them. They want control over their media, instead of being controlled by it.
The ABC’s triennial funding submission directly addresses this need for flexibility and relevance through its proposal “Content that motivates digital television uptake”. In 2005 the ABC launched its digital-only free to air television channel, ABC2. This new service offers time-shifted content, state-specific material that is unavailable in other states and territories and a comprehensive mix of documentary, art and children’s programming, as well as international and regional news programs not otherwise available.
The new digital proposal will also make available further programming on ABC2, as well as a video-on-demand service through ABC Broadband. By providing up-to-date technologies full of relevant information that can be accessed by a variety of mediums, we are creating further consumer interest and providing consumers with greater choice. This is a vital element of the ABC’s fulfilling its charter and the federal government should not overlook it.
The ABC has produced any number of critically acclaimed local television programs: Brides of Christ; Seachange; Changi; Grassroots and The Dismissal. Local drama is a window into our lives. It helps identify us as a nation and brings together all those wonderful elements that assist us in identifying what Australians see as important. It often asks the question: “What do you and I value?”
John Doyle, at the 2005 Andrew Olle memorial lecture, stressed the importance of the ABC’s contribution to local content, stating that without the ABC, “local content is reduced to game shows, dancing shows, lifestyle shows and talent quests … Think of something mindless, rope in a couple of celebrities and there’s your show”. Doyle asks, “Why is there such a paucity of great locally made drama?” More to the point, Doyle is not the only person arguing about the ABC’s role and the contribution to local content. The ABC charter states that one of the functions of the ABC is to:
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