ABC News boss welcomes feedback -if it’s respectful.

When Justin Stevens first joined ABC in 2006 on 7:30 his duties included printing out the log of telephone complaints for Kerry O’Brien.

“I used to put them on his desk and he would spend about half an hour each morning calling each of those viewers and saying, ‘G’day. I got a message from you and you said my interview was crap. I just want to talk to you about it. What questions do you have? How could it have been better?'” Stevens recalls.

Accountablility to the public is something he has carried with him ever since, and is front of mind in his new role as Director of ABC News, Analysis and Investigations.

“We expect the common courtesy of that being professional and polite and courteous”

But that was then and this is now. Feedback comes from all corners -yet not all of it is respectful.

“We get emails and we get direct messages on Twitter,” he tells TV Tonight. “We are also the most accountable media organisation in the country, if not the planet, in terms of people’s ability to engage and criticize, critique and give us feedback. When we get feedback, we will listen to it and we will factor it into our own high standards, in terms of how we go about doing stuff in the future.

“All feedback, whether it’s social media, online, emails, phone calls, voicemails -whatever- we expect the common courtesy of that being professional and polite and courteous. If it is, we’ll engage. If it’s not, we won’t.”

Stevens is coy about conducting an interview, conceding, “I don’t like journalists who talk about themselves,” but knows it comes with the territory of a senior appointment.

His new office digs appear to be minimalist -there’s only one TV screen- but he has no issue with multitasking and staying across the news spectrum in / out of ABC’s walls.

“I’m a big fan of (former Sunrise boss) Adam Boland’s work, and I remember reading he used to have stacks of screens at home. Don’t misread having one screen here as being me not being an active consumer of lots of news beyond ABC. We only moved in two weeks ago and they’re brand new,” he explains.

“But I throw myself into multiple things at a time. Various people, if you speak to them, will tell you that.

“Something I’m trying to do a lot of, particularly at the get-go, is listen, read, watch as much ABC as possible. I digest lots of other media -commercial media, media outside of Australia. Whenever I get a gap I turn it up and go, ‘Who’s that… what are they about, what are they doing?’ and I’ll send them a note, if I have time.

“My mobile device is probably the thing where I really do flick around”

“My mobile device is probably the thing where I really do flick around multiple new organisations, and streaming and whatnot.”

Stevens will need those skills to stay across his mammoth remit which includes ABC News channel, state news bulletins, News Breakfast, Four Corners, 7:30, Foreign Correspondent, Q+A, Australian Story, Insiders, The Drum, Planet America, China Tonight, India Now!, plus the Investigations unit and a string of ABC Radio programmes.

“I’m fortunate to sit above all of them, but have a really formidable group, of course, overseeing them,” he continues.

“We’re in the Asia Pacific, physically, as well as mentally”

“I’ve been impressed to see some really great innovation in regards to new programming out of News. China Tonight and India Now! are really important. Because if we go back to remit, we’re in the Asia Pacific, physically, as well as mentally, and I think those two programs are really showing and exemplifying where we need to be in regards to telling the stories of our region. It’s just going to become increasingly more important. So that I’m really excited about new programming like that.

“In regards to the stable of other programs, I think there is a virtue in some programs being around for the length of time that they have, because it helps chronicle our rich history. Four Corners has been around for six decades. Foreign Correspondent is about to celebrate its 30th year. 7:30 has been around with various iterations and names since the early ’90s. Insiders has been around for nearly 20 years and just had its highest rating episode.”

“There’s always going to be strong views as to what we do.”

Stevens says ABC is also in good health as evidenced by election night coverage. While there were some vocal critics, including former Insiders host Barrie Cassidy, the audience numbers were undeniable.

“Across the board, we had a massive audience. Our share for Free to Air on election night was 43% and 5.2 million Australians tuned into our coverage, which is remarkable. So I’m really proud of the work the team did on election night and during the campaign.

“I think we’re seeing increase from the public generally about a sense of distrust of our institutions, about politics generally. What the ABC needs to be doing is making sure that we’re holding those people to account, taking it up to them, and telling really courageous pieces of journalism that the public realise we’re telling the stories for the public good and greater good.

“There’s always going to be strong views as to what we do.”

Evolution continues with Stevens this week appointing three new executive producers, (Matthew Carney: Four Corners; Morag Ramsay: Foreign Correspondent; Joel Tozer: 7.30) and Leigh Sales set to depart 7:30 with Sarah Ferguson to take the anchor chair.

“She’s been so incredibly professional and impactful”

“Leigh’s done an incredible job anchoring one of the highest-profile programs on Australian TV for 12 years. Add into that four or five years on Lateline. That’s a daily furnace of intensive scrutiny and she’s been so incredibly professional and impactful over such an amazingly historic decade. We really wish her the best in these next three to four weeks,” says Stevens.

“But she’s also not retiring, she’s got a massive career ahead of her. It’s going to be exciting to see what she does at the ABC in the future as part of that.

“Sarah’s appointment is also exciting, because she will help us continue the trajectory and rich tradition of what that program is, which is a very unique offering in primetime, every day.

“Interviewing is a really central part of that program. Kerry was amazing at it. Leigh was amazing at it. Sarah is amazing at it. So we’re really excited to see what she brings to it.”

“Our job is not to be popular with anyone in government”

The country has also voted in a new government, but Stevens insists the broadcaster maintains its role in reportage.

“Our job is not to be popular with anyone in government, of any political stripe,” he maintains. “Our job is to hold them to account. So our approach won’t change. Will we have people in the audience at any time who say that we go too hard on one side or not the other? We will. What’s testament to that is when I got appointed, I was called an LNP stooge and an ALP hack in the space of 2 minutes. Our job is not to appease people on that front.

“It’s to do the best job possible to hold them to account and we will.”