In an attack both on the ABC, and on the Friends of the ABC, a Newcastle academic, Mr Paul Scott, argued that the ABC should accept advertising.  The opinion piece was published in the Newcastle Herald on 19 May 2005.

The Friends of the ABC have a long standing opposition to tied or targeted funding, whereby governments make funding available to the ABC on condition that it be used for a particular purpose.

Friends of the ABC believe that neither advertisers nor governments should be in a position to determine, or to influence, ABC program decisions.

After commenting on the Friends of the ABC oppositon to targeted funding, Mr Scott wrote “ And Labor never stacked the ABC Board”, implying that the Friends of the ABC have not opposed Labor efforts to influence ABC programs.

The following reply to Mr Scott’s article, by Gary Cook, President of Friends of the ABC (NSW) was published by the Newcastle Herald on 26 May 2005

PAUL Scott's piece ("ABC must tune in to commercial reality", The Herald 19/5) is extraordinary for its lack of logic, and for its flagrant misrepresentation of the views of the Friends of the ABC.

Mr Scott begins by asserting that the ABC has breached the prohibition on advertising in the ABC Act by product placement in the program Blue Water High.

He then goes on to argue that because the ABC has broken the rules on this occasion, the rules should be abandoned and that the ABC should "increase its income from commercial arrangements".

This is like arguing that since the rules against drink driving are frequently broken, such rules should be abolished.

His next argument is a breathtaking non sequitur. He reports (correctly) that the Australian Broadcasting Authority has found that the ABC has breached fairness and accuracy guidelines on four occasions. But the fact that ABC journalists can make errors of fact or fail on occasions in their duty to be strictly impartial is no argument for taking advertising, which Mr Scott concedes can lead to "instances of favourable reporting" to commercial interests.

As a lecturer in communication and media studies, Paul Scott should appreciate that the ABC's reputation for investigative journalism built over many years has only been possible because of a prohibition on advertising. Sadly, because of its poor funding, fewer of these programs are being produced.

Ironically, only this month, it was revealed that the University of Newcastle would be forced to cut more than 400 positions because of financial difficulties. We would regard any suggestion that the university seeks sponsorship to cure its financial ills as being completely inappropriate. Similarly, we reject any move to commercialise the ABC.

The ABC's triennial funding is determined next year and we will be working hard to achieve a substantial increase in funding.

Our greatest concern is with Mr Scott's misrepresentation of the views of Friends of the ABC. In noting our objection to the Howard Government's use of tied or targeted funding, and its impact on the editorial independence of the ABC, Mr Scott exclaims, "And Labor never stacked the ABC board?". The implication here is that Friends of the ABC is pro-Labor.

Nothing could be further from the truth. We have criticised Labor appointments on numerous occasions. Our submission to the 2001 senate inquiry into the appointment of the ABC board stated: "As a result of appointments by the current government, and of appointments by the previous Labor government, the ABC board lacks credibility. The present system is in danger of developing public cynicism and mistrust of all ABC boards, regardless of their integrity or the independence of any particular board and its members."

This submission is a public document, available on our website at www.friendsoftheabc.org.

Gary Cook is president of Friends of the ABC in NSW, (a lobby group not aligned to any political party).