85 Years of ABC International
ABC Radio Australia and international television service ABC Australia reach nearly 11 million people across Asia-Pacific.
- Published by David Knox
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This month, ABC marks 85 years as Australia’s trusted international voice.
ABC Radio Australia and international television service ABC Australia reach nearly 11 million people each month and digital platforms ABC Pacific and ABC Asia are also experiencing rapid growth.
On 20 December 1939, just after the start of WWII, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies launched ABC Radio Australia, then called Australian Calling, to counter disinformation and propaganda from enemy forces. Since then, ABC International has undergone many changes. Today, it is engaging audiences in Asia and the Pacific and supporting media across the region through the work of two teams – ABC International Services and ABC International Development. Media capacity building activities, funded by the Australian Government through DFAT and managed by ABC International Development, continue to expand, promoting public interest journalism in the Asia Pacific.
ABC International Head Claire M. Gorman said: “I am incredibly proud of ABC International’s legacy as the trusted and independent Australian voice for 85 years in the Asia Pacific region. As we take this moment to reflect on our journey, we also look to the future as we continue to grow our international audiences and deepen our connections, championing regional storytelling and a robust and independent media landscape.”
As part of the birthday celebrations, ABC International has launched an interactive storytelling platform, the Indo-Pacific Media Map, which portrays the ABC’s activities, audiences and impact across the region.
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2 Responses
… “Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop closing Australia+”? Australia Network was a $223mil commercial contract for “soft diplomacy” released as a tender by DFAT under foreign minister Rudd … according to reports at the time, the independent DFAT panel rejected the ABC bid as non-compliant and subsequently, apparently as a result of unspecified “leaks”, the tender was cancelled, taken away from DFAT and it was communications minister Conroy who handed it to the ABC despite the Auditor-General, Ian McPhee raising that as a potential conflict of interest … the opposition did what oppositions do and opposed this and when they got into government DFAT cancelled the commercial contract …
Despite Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop closing Australia+ ABC set up ABC International (with a few name changes), with ABC funding, in order to comply with their charter. With the conversion to digital by many Pacific broadcasters there are now dedicated FTA “secondary” channels broadcasting ABC Int’l (Fiji, Niue, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands) carrying the channel FTA 24/7.