The Editor
The Australian
11 September 2001

Angela Shanahan (Australian 11 September 2001) begins her otherwise reasoned discussion of ABC guidelines with the unsupported assertion that the ABC is biased.

While I doubt that any media organisation is totally unbiased all of the time, Australians overwhelmingly believe that the ABC is the least biased of all our media outlets.

John Stirton, Associate Research Director of A.C. Nielsen Australia said (The Age, 20 March 2000) :"70% of Australians believe that ABC coverage of news and current affairs is more balanced than that provided by commercial networks." A survey conducted by Newspoll and published in the Australian earlier this year found that 80% of coalition voters thought the ABC was doing a good job with news. A survey commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Authority, conducted by Bond University and reported in the Australian on May 3rd this revealed that:

• Respondents considered Kerry O'Brien of the ABC's 7.30 Report the most credible journalist, reporter, presenter or columnist across television, radio, newspapers and the Internet.
• ABC News topped the list as the most credible news and current affairs program, column or internet site.
• Only 3% of respondents rated ABC programs in the 'least credible' category. By comparison Channel 9 News and Current affairs rated a whopping 59.2%.

The fact that Angela Shanahan is completely out of step with the vast majority of Australians does not prove she is wrong. It does however oblige her to provide some substantial evidence for the premise on which she has based her whole argument.

Darce Cassidy
National Spokesperson
Friends of the ABC