Biased or Bungled?

While the Conservatives line up to take
another pot at the BBC, the debate rumbles on about its colonial cousin, the ABC.

During the long years of John Howard’s rule, the Government’s view was that the ABC was one of the few remaining bastions of left-of-centre politics and almost everything it said or did was contaminated by the pernicious views of its staff and management. The response was to install “cultural warriors” on the board to set the broadcaster back on the path of truth.

If you did think the ABC was institutionally biased, then it seems things are getting better, though this article does point out that the ABC was prepared to give past Labor governments a shellacking as well.

What’s missing from the debate is the extent to which what’s regarded as bias is, in fact, bad or lazy journalism, or stems from a lack of resources. Biased journalism is, of course, bad journalism, but the former can often result, not from a partial view of the facts, but from the journalism not doing the job properly.

Personally, I’m far more concerned about the ABC telling us a few weeks ago that, despite the terrible economic situation in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe “remained confident” of winning the forthcoming election. In spite of more recent events, that still seems like a crass thing to say.