A few months earlier Errol Simper had reported on changes at SBS which suggested it might be veering towards the broadcasting model across the Tasman.

Anger and distress among SBS staff over the departure of the network's chief programmer, Rod Webb, has tipped the station's new head of television, Shaun Brown, into a harsh glare of scrutiny. Brown, a 31-year career at Television New Zealand behind him and in place at SBS for only four months, had probably hoped for a longer Australian honeymoon.

On the other hand, controversy and Brown are well known to each other. Brown had an uncomfortable last few months as TVNZ's head of television, perceived by many as having facilitated an agenda resulting in the broadcaster being labelled by NZ's Prime Minister, Helen Clark, as shamelessly ratings-driven and nowhere near good enough. Now second-in-charge at SBS, another public broadcasting/commercial hybrid whose ethos is similarly deemed to be at stake, Brown must probably inure himself to ongoing scrutiny.

Some maintain a public service/commercialism duel is being played out within SBS in much the same way as at Brown's TVNZ. There are staff concerns at plans for program sponsorships (centred on The Business Show); and fears SBS wants to interrupt programs with commercials. In short, there are those with genuine fears that SBS is shifting its emphasis from public broadcasting values to revenue and ratings.

It's a sad, depressing kind of saga and it's not easy to decipher any great consolation attached to any of it. Worse, perhaps, there are those who've been at SBS for a while who find it close to sinister. Still distressed and angry about alleged board interference rightly or wrongly perceived as having precipitated Cavanagh's departure [ie Brown's predecessor], some worry over SBS's future. They imagine a nightmare involving a reversal of the channel's traditionally thoughtful, upmarket approach.

ERROL SIMPER The Australian 29/5/03