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Readers back a strong ABC & SBS

The survey says we value strong public broadcasters and we don't want them to merge.

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Having the “ABC & SBS independent of government influence” is the biggest priority in Free to Air television according to readers in the TV Tonight Audience Inventory.

One week into the survey and readers are rallying behind public broadcasters at a time when One Nation, commercial broadcasters and sections of the media are calling for everything from inquiries, to less funding and making charter demands.

“The role of ABC TV to educate, inform and entertain must be maintained and appropriately funded,” said one reader.

“I am particularly worried about government interference in the ABC, I think that’s the biggest menace on the horizon, even worse than what might happen to Channel 10,” said another.

Others have weighed in with similar views:

“Thank ‘god’ for the ABC & SBS. More power & funds to them. How about $130m funding that was given to Foxtel for women’s sport as a start.”

“I am concerned about repeated attacks on ABC and SBS (journalistic independence, funding levels, claims of unfair advantage, etc) which right wingers use in an attempt to get votes. I am also concerned that FTA ‘networks’ think they should get the airwaves for free and without competition from gov funded networks.”

“ABC & SBS have stepped up this year, acquiring great international shows and originals, I hope commercial TV takes notice.”

“I will now only watch a show if it is on SBS, ABC, Fetch or SVOD.”

So far readers are again citing “Merging public broadcasters” as their lowest priority in Free to Air, as they have across successive years.

Also a top priority to readers are:

  • Finishing a series once it starts
  • Shows starting / finishing on time
  • ABC, SBS funding maintained

There’s still time to have your say on all things Free to Air, Pay TV and Streaming.

Survey closes 6pm Friday 8 September  2017.

29 Responses

  1. I am surprised that some readers think objecting to government interference depends on your political persuasion. Surely it is a bad sign for democracy when any government tries to control what should be independent media? Particularly when it is the outlet that has been identified as the most trusted news source in the country, and the fourth most trusted institution full stop. That should not be compromised.

  2. Putting political issues aside, the ABC is very important because of the quality programming it offers. The pressure to make profits that the commercial networks experience, causes them to have to eliminate many quality shows. A publicly supported broadcaster provides space for shows with important messages to be made and shown, regardless of their profit-making potential.

  3. Merging ABC and SBS would be dumb, but I do think the ABC 24, ABC 2 & 3 channels, should be allowed to have commercials to help cover the costs of running them, which would need to be passed in the Senate. If SBS can have ads on its channels, so should ABC, but only on those 3 channels.

  4. I am a big viewer of the ABC the only people that think the ABC is left wing is the extreme right wing and they never watch,political programming is only a small part of the ABC,majority of programming is drama comedy lifestyle educational and kids is by far the majority its excellent tV .my only gripe is that regional viewers have always been left out of the ABC budget .regional news is non exisstant something the ABC needs to invest in .and the fact that programmes like news breakfast are too Melbourne focused its not a true national breakfast show all tax payers pay for the ABC and ABC news breakfast not just Melbourne and Sydney tax payers .they either broadcast a truely national breakfast show or make it state based .other wise leave our ABC alone .

  5. I find it quite laughable when people complain about the ABC being “left” leaning. All historical studies have shown that the ABC is quite centrist and often slightly right leaning in its broadcasts.
    The sad fact is that the the people who consider the ABC to be left-leaning only do so because their views are so far to the right as to make Ghengis Khan look centrist. You only have to look at who is calling for “balance” (Hanson, et al) to understand this.

    1. …a little like their current refusal to present both sides of the marriage debate.

      They are generally balanced, but some particular issues become ABC campaigns.

      1. I have never asked before, and was not questioning your integrity. It’s just that a lot of the questions look like data harvesting. Settle, petal!

        1. It is called an inventory, designed to track trends. Demo questions help me get a snapshot of my audience but nothing is on-sold or shared and it is possible to complete the survey anonymously. It’s important to remember not all readers are inclined to complete surveys either and it isn’t scientifically based.

          1. Not to mention that releasing interim results before the poll closes has a good chance of skewing final results by encouraging the upset luvvies to fill it in.

            Let’s all just treat the thing as a way of ‘enhancing blog reader engagement’ – and not, say, a completely voluntary, non-binding, non-compulsory plebiscite…

          2. Actually it’s about survey engagement and as a call to action it drives a variety of new opinions, with the more completed surveys the lower the room for error.

    2. The election panel is always 50/50 split in the ABC coverage LNP and labor representatives are equally in the panel you can’t get more balanced than that .

  10. So the readers here lean towards the left. Peculiar. I would think it would be balanced. (I am in the political centre.)

    On second thought the readers here probably trend young and the young trend towards the left.

    1. That’s funny. Who would have thought that being in favour of a publicly funded broadcaster that was independent of govt influence (from either side) meant that you were left-leaning?

      1. Secret Squirrel, concern that a right leaning government keep it’s hands off a left leaning news organisation indicates a left leaning readership for tvtonight or at least for the survey responders..

        If it was just a statement of principles it wouldn’t be the respondent’s greatest concern

    3. “Peculiar”. Here’s a third thought. Perhaps readers on here don’t give a stuff about political ‘leanings’ generally, but do care about the ABC.

      1. If they care about ABC news and current affairs then they have political leanings, even if they don’t realise it. If they believe taxpayers should subsidise their personal entertainment despite a $30 billion deficit they are either showing political leanings, showing a lack self awareness or are simply selfish.

    4. Do me some favours Sean. Define young, left, and political centre.
      I’ll assume your definition will be different to mine…..
      I’m happy with an independent ABC, don’t think there’s much bias to any “side”. Yes, clearly people who work there vote differently to me, doesn’t mean I need to get outraged about it.

      1. Young was simply a guess that David knocked down.

        For you I will define the biases of the news organisations I consume. Australian and Telegraph are right. SMH and ABC are left. Newcastle Herald is fair and balanced.

        It is an outrage when a taxpayer subsidised news organisation is biased. It is merely irritating to meaningless when other news organisations are biased.

        2. So you were wrong about the age of survey respondents and you’re wrong about ABC news and caff being left-leaning. Every independent assessment of the last 15 years has found them to be either fair and balanced or slightly favouring the right.

    5. Talk about assumptions….I am as old as dirt….I have no political leanings….and I agree with Jason, we are about ABC and for me SBS….I do not want politicians playing with them…simply because they are grandstanding for political purposes….and to stop cutting finances to them…let them cut their pay packets …they always cut ‘easy’ targets…

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