A former head of the ABC’s Religion unit has accused management of being “ideologically driven” in downgrading the place of religion at the national broadcaster.
In an article published by Eureka Street, Paul Collins also takes a personal dig at ABC Managing Director Mark Scott, saying: “it would be ironic if a discrete religion unit disappeared while a self-confessed, practicing evangelical Christian was managing director”.
Collins claims that ABC management is treating the Religion section as being at the sole disposal of one network, Radio National. He describes this as the latest move in “a war of attrition from secularist elements who see belief as a purely private affair with no part in public discourse.”
It springs from a post-modern, secularist belief that religion is dying, is marginal to life and doesn’t impact on the key issues that influence our world. When you point out that religion has become a central issue in post 9/11 politics, secularists shift ground and say: ‘Well, it can be covered by general journalists in current affairs’. This is based on the belief that any journalist can do everything.
Collins also reports that an ecumenical group of religious leaders who met ABC Managing Director Mark Scott earlier this month were met with a “totally inadequate” response. The leaders had asked for the return of a dedicated religious current affairs program, as well as specialist religious journalists to be employed at the ABC.
Collins claims Scott told the leaders that decisions on the future of the religion unit would have to wait until a new head of radio was appointed towards the middle of this year.
Collins’ article is the latest episode in the controversy that followed the axing of ABC Radio National’s Religion Report and other specialist programs late last year. The axing of the programs was announced on air by the Religion Report presenter Stephen Crittenden, who was suspended as a result. (Crittenden has since returned to work on the Background Briefing program.)
The former head of radio, Sue Howard, resigned under pressure shortly afterwards. At the time, the indications from within the ABC were that Howard had been a barrier to using the ABC’s radio presence as a foundation for new media innovation.
My understanding at the time, as I reported here, was that the emphasis within the ABC was towards using specialist units such as Religion to provide content across platforms, while reducing the emphasis on particular modes of delivery (television, internet, radio, mobile phones and so forth.)
I approached the ABC for comment on Collins’ article today, but was told management had nothing to say at this stage.
I suspect bigger things are brewing, dependent on the success or otherwise of the ABC’s triennial funding submission in the budget.
Personally, I wouldn’t rush to the conclusion that this means a downgrading of religion, but time will tell.
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I have noticed, certainly over the last 10 years, religion has moved into the community radio sector where they control their own exposure and in many instances small radio networks of more then one radio station.
Just a quick scan of the community broadcasting site: http://www.cbaa.org.au
will quickly reveil a gammit of religious stations dotted all over Australia : Christian Broadcasters Riverland; Christian Radio; Central Victorian Gospel Radio Inc. Magic fm to name just a few.
In Australia religious organisations certainly have free control over their own exposure.
As a secualrist who agrees that belief is a purely private affair with no part in public discourse, I see no reason why ABC should cut its programming about it. As a private activity that is shared by communities, religion is as valid a social topic of media discussion and analysis as music, film, politics and other cultural pursuits.
Since the flagship RN programs got the arse late last year, i really can’t accept that the babble in the blogosphere about the Religion Report stems from people who’ve actually listened to it, or to ABCs other religous offerings (obviously i’m not referring to Paul Collins). In no way did the Religion Report reflect our multicultural society and all the significant faiths practised here. It was mono-Christian propaganda – and has been for as many years as i’ve dipped into it. And no more so than under Stephen Crittenden who loved to get into the nitty-gritty of whos-who in Sydney’s high Anglican zoo. Crittenden’s take on the Islamic ‘problem’, if i can call it that, was from a white Christian’s point of view. He simply didn’t have the broadminded objectivity to step outside the European colonialist mindset and try to present the post 9/11 issues from the perspective of cultures that have felt persecuted or under the thumb of Euro-American Christian hegemony.
It’s ditto for John Cleary’’s Sunday night 3/4 hour program on local ABC radio. Listen and experience wall-to-wall Christianity! Rarely are other religions or spiritual paths given a voice. While Cleary is big on social issues, it’s always from the perspective of the corporatised Christian welfare outfits who have a big stake in maintaining their very healthy revenue stream of government funding to tend to the poor and downtrodden.
Likewise for Compass and the hyperbolic Geraldine Doogue. OK, sometimes it covers other stuff but it still predominately about some aspect of Christianity or Christian experience. Even Rachel Kohn’s the Spirit of Things, also on RN, seems to have swayed, about 70-30, in favour of the dominant religion. I think you’ll find that the Jesus lobby is very much alive and well in the ABC corridors – perhaps Paul Collins is a bit of a mouthpiece for them? Personally, i would be more impressed if commentators, mainstream and bloggers alike, had actually woken up and realised that the ABC’s coverage of religious issues is a throwback to the 1950s, and about as relevant as Pig Iron Bob.
And why has there not been such an outcry about the removal of the Media report, which actually delved into many serious shenanigans and probably stepped on a few big corporate toes?
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