ABC News Director: “Stories no other media organisation was telling”
Kate Torney responds to Malcolm Turnbull on where the money is going in News & Current Affairs.
- Published by David Knox
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ABC Director of News has responded to questions by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull over how an additional $70m allocated over three years was being spent on News and Current Affairs in the digital media.
Last week, the Federal Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull said: “ABC viewers and staff have the right to question management on where this investment has been made.”
Kate Torney today wrote “I am happy to report on the return on that investment,” at The Drum.
Here is an excerpt from her response:
More than 90 jobs have been created, primarily for journalists, editors and technical and operational staff.
In the first eight months of this year, the National Reporting Team delivered 293 stories, which formed the basis of 979 pieces of content across all ABC platforms. About 40 per cent of those stories were picked up by other national and international news outlets.
In the past four months, the ABC’s newly-appointed regional video journalists have filed more than 500 stories across television, radio, online, mobile and social media.
These are stories no other media organisation was telling. They provide insights into communities, people and issues that would otherwise not have been shared.
The ABC’s new digital capabilities have provided more opportunities for politicians and key decision-makers to explain their work and their policies. We are averaging 131 live television links per week, used across nine different programs and platforms, including News 24, 7PM news bulletins and our specialist business, political and sports programs.
In its first year, ABC FactCheck has produced 240 Fact Checks and Fact Files. Its Election Promise interactive site, launched in July, generated 1.1 million views in four weeks.
You can read it in full here.
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5 Responses
Can I say one thing? Michael Rowland and Virginia Trioli are pleasant treasures to wake up to in the mornings on News24.
The ABC is doing it job, so leave it alone, Malcolm.
Sure, it does not feature a story every day with the word ‘Kardashian’ in it, but best to leave that to the likes of your mates at News.com – the purveyors of such ‘unique’ journalism.
The Murdoch-fuelled attack on the ABC must stop.
The Government gave the ABC $70m, on top of their regular news and current affairs budget, for 2013-2016 specifically for expanding state news and Lateline. And the ABC is claiming that Lateline and 7:30pm state are being cut by management because of a cut in funding by the Government.
The ABC’s live crosses are no different. A reporter standing outside a building being interviewed by someone in the studio based on the same press release they both got over the net. Except that in Sydney the ABC reporters are terrible at it. They stuff their lines, digress into irrelevant material because they aren’t trained or managed to do it properly and are used to spending a lot of time in a studio to fix everything up and get it right.
ABC News is an informative network. But shows like Landline provide a vital link to inform about the rural and production issues.
At least their “live crosses” cross to something actually happening, unlike the commercials, especially 7 & 9, who cross to someone in front of a wall where something happened hours ago or yesterday, where nothing is happening at all now, repeating what the autocue reader in the studio has already told us.