Jonathan Holmes: Sell the ABC!

Is it — surely, there can be no doubt — the End of Days, when lions bed down with lambs and nothing is as it should be? Consider just one portent: Malcolm Turnbull, warmist and back-stabber, leads the party that once valued Nick Minchin’s scepticism and Tony Abbott’s emphasis on loyalty. Now comes another reversal of the natural order.

In today’s Fairfax column, former Media Watch poobah of smuggery Jonathan Holmes argues for privatising the ABC!

He doesn’t quite say it in so many words, of course, but that is the only conclusion to be drawn from his plea that consumers of news simply must pay for their daily diets of dubious scoops and lightly re-written press releases. As the secondary headline puts it, “Journalism produced by big newsrooms empowers citizens by keeping them informed. Why should we get this service for free?”

Why indeed?

As Holmes notes, the very same Fairfax Media which presents his columns is the journalistic equivalent of the wreck of the Hesperus. Circulation is forever shrinking and ad revenues declining even faster, which testifies to a truth Holmes almost, but not quite, brings himself to utter. Fairfax rags — and the News Corp comics, too — collate and package news, then expect consumers to pay for it.

Holmes’ former employer, on the other hand, collates and packages news and gives it away for free. A multi-platform operation and the largest employer of journalists in the country, the national broadcaster makes its presence felt in every medium, from the internet to the airwaves, retailing and book publishing. That doesn’t leave much room for any other players, least of all those obliged to record a profit.

So take it from Jonathan: To save Australian journalism, the ABC must be sold off without delay.

Holmes’ thoughts can be read in full via the link below.

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