Culture

ABC Tells ABC Staff Not To Get Emotional When Reporting On Cuts To The ABC

This won't be awkward at all.

by Maddie James  21 November 2014

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The offices over at the ABC must be a pretty stressful place these days. Budget cuts are looming, with the announcement set to be made to staff on Monday of which programs are going to be affected, and when Christopher Pyne has decided that something is a tad unfair then you know things are pretty bleak.

So it’s kind of surprising that ABC management didn’t realise sooner that they predominately employ journalists, who are good at, you know, releasing information and shaping public opinion, and they should maybe tell them to not go too crazy.

In an internal memo obtained by Guardian Australia entitled Guidance for ABC staff on editorial issues arising from anticipated budget cuts, staff have been instructed to not “indulge” themselves when reporting on the cuts, and to treat it like it’s any other public body that’s going to lose money and fire staff. Even though it’s their own jobs at stake. I have a feeling that the ABC’s reports on the cuts are going to get really passive aggressive in the coming days.

“This will be a challenging climate for staff in both radio and news divisions attempting to provide accurate and impartial coverage of announcements and events,” the memo reads. “It will be particularly so for those working on programs directly or indirectly affected by cuts or changes, or whose colleagues may be affected.”

So, basically everyone at the ABC. It goes on: 

“While going through this process be careful not to assign this story more time than you would a similar story about a comparable organisation. The ABC must not ‘indulge’ itself during a period such as this.

“Be careful about your use of language. Make sure that both your words and tone remain neutral. For example, don’t overstate the story to make an impact. Be particularly careful to be accurate about the effect of any changes. There may be competing claims around such things such as the acute size of the cuts and the flow-on effect on jobs.

“For many if not all of you, this will be a testing time. To achieve the high standards of professional coverage expected of you… we recommend that you read our comprehensive guidance note on impartiality.”

ABC managing director Mark Scott will address staff at the Ultimo offices at a meeting on Monday at 11am, which is strictly off-limits to the public. Which I guess won’t be a problem since everyone in attendance is a journalist/has Twitter/knows how to get information out. Maybe they’ll be inspired and come up with some really good/depressingly accurate #ABCbudgetcutshows.

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