The row over the ABC chopping youth current affairs program Behind the News says something about ABC priorities. But it shouldn’t be inferred that BTN was deliberately guillotined to inflame community passion. It was a miscalculation, an error of judgement that has translated into a de facto symbol of the passion the ABC could generate if it deliberately chooses to be provocative.

Could you imagine the row if the broadcaster had dumped mainstream current affairs, perhaps The 7.30 Report? What would happen if The Bill disappeared? In truth, the shaving of $26 million from ABC operations was done very carefully, so that no mainstream flagship program or radio network was lost. Pragmatism is probably what you’d expect. The federal government, after all, appointed all but two of the board, the exceptions being staff-elected director Ramona Koval and managing director Russell Balding. Should you doubt the cuts were both diplomatic and a source of governmental relief, this was the immediate reaction  from Communications Minister Richard Alston: ‘These budgetary decisions will have minimal impact on the ABC’s core programming and demonstrate the ability of the ABC board, in this instance to take … tough decisions.’ Alston’s relief was palpable.

Attaching himself to subsequent public sentiment over BTN, Alston later changed tack: ‘One must seriously question where the ABC’s priorities lie when it axes a program like BTN that is directly linked to its charter obligations.’

Alston may have changed tack, but he’s right. In truth he could go further. He could reasonable suggest the cuts appear to be based on ratings. First, though, to the miscalculation. In slashing BTN, the corporation simple didn’t recognise the program’s social impact goes well beyond its immediate audience. It touches on parents, teachers and education organizations. And that’s where the anger has been apparent.

This is part of an article in the W/E Australian 9aug03