The ABC chairman, Justin Milne, regularly spoke to executives, including the corporation’s news director, Gaven Morris, about contentious stories or content he didn’t approve of, multiple sources have told Guardian Australia.

Milne, a close friend of the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, behaved more like a managing director than a chairman, sources said, and had strong views about the ABC’s reporting and programming.

“We had an MD who wanted to be chair and a chair who wanted to be MD,” one journalist said.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/26/justin-milne-would-interve...

 

Gus: I don't know about the MD wanting to be the chair of the ABC, but I know of the chair wanting to control programming — a task that is NOT HIS JOB. Justin Milne should resign but he wont, because as in Fletch, the inspector character says "It would take a big man to admit he was wrong, but I am a small man..." By not resigning, Milne shows he never understood his position and still has not..

 

The breakdown in the relationship between ABC chairman Justin Milne and former ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie is believed to have been exacerbated by his overly-familiar language when referring to his managing director and other female staff members.

Mr Milne, a company director who is close to former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, is alleged to have referred to Ms Guthrie as “the missus” in front of staff. Fairfax Media has spoken to a media executive who claims Mr Milne also referred to women as “chicks” and “babes”.

 

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/the-missus-language-exacerbate...

 

Please note that Malcolm did not have to "tell" his mate what to do. His mate would have got the job BECAUSE Malcolm knew what Milne would do... Simple. Malcolm is not lying... It could be in the same vein with the cash given to the GBR Foundation FOR NO REASON, except they are "mates" and "rich"? 

 

According to insider knowledge, Milne is gone...

• 29m ago'Made the right call' - Scott Morrison
• 49m ago'Nobody from the government has ever rung me and told me what to do in relation to the ABC"
• 54m agoJustin Milne - 'I should resign because clearly there is a lot of pressure on the organisation'
• 1h agoJustin Milne has resigned
• 2h agoLabor 'does not have confidence' in ABC board chair
• 2h agoMalcolm Turnbull didn't 'hate' ABC journalists – Scott Morrison
• 2h ago'Frankly quite shocking'

Now, the entire ABC board should resign. No two ways about it.

 

Voters of Wentworth can present the nation with a gift

 

By Margo Kingston

 

26 September 2018 — 12:05am

 

I celebrated Malcolm Turnbull’s ascension to Australia’s leadership by publishing a photo on Twitter of my mother and I toasting him with champagne. "Small l liberalism" - socially progressive, economically dry, environmentally green - was on the rise again in the Liberal Party.

Of course, the right wing clipped his wings. He held the line as best he could. But now, the right has become the hard right, moving inexorably towards a friendly merger with One Nation and threatening a Trumpified, racially charged Liberal Party destabilising our centrist politics.

 

And now it’s clear that the new Prime Minister is controlled by the hard right. Climate change policy - dead. Energy policy focused on renewables - dead. "Religious freedom" laws demanded by the hard right as compensation for losing the same sex marriage survey - pledged but not to be revealed until after the Wenthworth byelection. Unfree speech proposals to disallow campus protests unless protesters pay for security - floated. The ABC - at risk. A non-discriminatory immigration policy - shaky.

In retrospect the most important political experience in my time as a political journo was observing the power relationship between the right and moderate wings of the Liberal Party, beginning with the bitter debate over One Nation in the late 1990s. The John Howard-Tony Abbott strategy was to stay silent on her views and preference One Nation. Jeff Kennett and Peter Costello urged rebutting her views on the merits and preferencing her last.

The Howard-Abbott strategy played out in the 1998 Queensland election, and was catastrophic - she won seats in the regions but liberal voters in Brisbane fled to Labor.

 

 

read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/voters-of-wentworth-can-present-...

 

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Read also:

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/35033

 

 

 

I personally did not have the same rosy views of Malcolm as held by Margo. I'd met him once or twice in the 1980s, and though charming, there was no "solidity" in his views about anything much, except "becoming Prime Minister"... via whichever channel (Labor or Liberal). I could be too harsh though... but when they did the switcheroo with Abbott, I knew that under Malcolm, things would be basically the same, with a bit more elegance...

 

two days ago before the ABC blew up, I wrote this:

Michelle was not so upfront. She actually is good at managing these conflicting dynamics. Some of the staff went up in arms, when she did not argue for “more funding”. Tough titties would have said the government: you’ll be getting less and less… But she would have appeared to ask. She is not the begging style.
It took a while for Michelle to grasp the ABC’s staff culture — unless she grasped it quickly but did not let it known until recently.  Her style of management is discreet and not bombastic (like saying one thing and doing another — we know who you were...).
She actually managed to save the ABC from further demolition — demolition which is on the government plan. This I guess became unacceptable for the government stooges. She would have been asked (does not take Einstein to figure this one out) to sack Emma Alberici for her critical opinionated article on the government’s management of the economy. I would suggest here that Guthrie would have studied the article in detail and found not much wrong in it. She would have had an argument about it with the board's leader, who knows. 
From then on, Guthrie, helped by a few enlightened outsiders, would have formulated a way to protect the ABC from further destruction, some of which she had prepared herself — under the momentum of the previous ABC regime. But she caught-on the idea that "she could have been set up to fail” and be part of the ABC demise. 
Recently, she had lifted the ABC game, despite the government budget cuts. But she had to coax the old lieutenants who may have resented not getting the gig... who knows. 
The proposition that the ABC is “leftist” is a lot of bullshit. One area that the board want to close down is RN, Radio National, which is a hot bed for alternative viewpoint on the AM band and is mostly listened to by “old people” in search of knowledge. The demise of RN was started by the previous management with massive budget cut which Guthrie managed to "stop". The ABC the government wants is to podcast everything for the idiotic "yoofs” with idiotic stuff, and become like a Netflix channel, but of course far less successful until it is run into the ground. That is the future of the ABC as planned by the government and Mr Murdoch — by making it fail.
Michelle Guthrie saw through this plan and held up the fort. Thus she was dismissed for “her style” which of course the Board is not prepare to qualify…

-------------------------

She would have been asked (does not take Einstein to figure this one out) to sack Emma Alberici for her critical opinionated article on the government’s management of the economy.

When I wrote this WHICH HAD NOT MADE THE MEDIA YET, I knew that this was a major crux of the matter, though Milne denies that he had "political" pressures do do this (which he still denies doing this, on 7:30 tonight). The trail of crumbs is everywhere! Come on! Fess up!

 

The dismissal of Michelle Guthrie was a brutal inconsiderate move. She had worked out that the future of the ABC is not to dilute its transmission programming, while still improve podcast and online — but not exclusively, as more or less Project Jetstream was about online exclusivity.

Mind you you have to ask yourself, why would Turnbull push for "Project Jetstream" when he would have had to know that Uncle Rupe would have hated the idea of such competition. This is why his media also demanded that Milne erased himself out of the landscape. So there was a lot of dynamics demanding Milne's blood on the carpet... who would have been chosen by the government to do what the government wanted —without "government interference", if you see what I mean.

 

And now for the rest of the board... How can Milne deny this:

Almost all the directors of the ABC’s eight-member board were appointed directly by the minister for communications, Mitch Fifield, and some were appointed after being rejected by the merit-based nominations panel, documents obtained by the Guardian show.

In a week that has seen the national broadcaster sack its managing director, Michelle Guthrie, and lose its chairman, Justin Milne, in the fallout, scrutiny is now shifting to the ABC board and the calibre of its directors.

Milne stepped down on Thursday following a series of damaging leaks that suggested he had pressured Guthrie to “get rid of” senior ABC reporter Emma Alberici, who was the subject of the Coalition government’s ire.

The leaks, which sparked a departmental inquiry, raised concerns about the independence and integrity of the ABC.

The issue of the Alberici reports was discussed at board level but it is unclear whether other directors were aware until this week that Milne had pushed for her removal.

“The ABC chair is gone and the remainder of the board have questions to answer now too,” said the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young on Thursday following Milne’s resignation.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/27/abc-board-members-appointe...

 

ABC board is weak and lacks legitimacy but it should not be sacked

Margaret Simons

 

There is a tendency in news reporting to depict crises as battles between good and evil. It’s rarely that simple. The current shemozzle engulfing the ABC is an example.

We need some correctives if there is to be a good way forward.

This account of recent events is drawn from numerous conversations with ABC insiders, not one of whom is a spin doctor serving former managing director Michelle Guthrie or former chairman Justin Milne, both of whom are guilty of strategic leaks designed to serve their interests.

It leads me to the view that while the current ABC board is weak and lacks legitimacy, calls for it to be sacked are overcooked and not in the best interests of the corporation.

As well, while Milne has amply demonstrated that he was unfit for his position, there was also a context for his actions that has not been fully understood.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/28/abc-board-is-weak-and-lack...

 

Drop the pretence... This article by Margaret Simons misses the mark by a couple of (million) miles. The ABC board is weak as she says. So what to do with it? Keep it, she says... Balls! Keep it until a new board is reloaded in two years time with MORE OF THE SAME? Bull.

My information is that many BETTER people who applied were rejected as board members of the ABC because they did not fit Fifield's (IPA) desire to destroy the ABC as you know it. He personally picked a few of the present board members for their political bias and any present board member at the ABC appointed by the Liberal (CONservative) government who claims they are not influenced by the government are talking bull. They have been chosen for their existing views in line with that of the government's wish to destroy the ABC, slowly via various means. 

Weak board? If you say so...

 

The ABC Board is responsible for the ABC’s operations. The duty of the Board is to ensure that the functions of the Corporation are performed efficiently with maximum benefit to the people of Australia, and to maintain the independence and integrity of the Corporation. The Board is also responsible for ensuring that the gathering and presentation of news and information is accurate and impartial, according to recognised standards of journalism, and that the ABC complies with legislative and legal requirements.

Up to seven Directors are appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Government. The Managing Director is appointed by the Board.

The ABC Act requires that Directors must be experienced in broadcasting, communications or management, or have expertise in financial or technical matters, or have cultural or other interests relevant to the provision of broadcasting services.

The Australian Government has established a merit-based appointment process for non-executive directors to the ABC.

• A summary of the merit-based appointment process

A partly leaked dossier has revealed that Michelle Guthrie told the board months ago she believed it would be an act of “retribution” if she was sacked.

A Fairfax report on Saturday claimed Guthrie wrote to the board months before she was fired, claiming that any decision to terminate her appointment “would not be based on a valid reason”, and would appear to be – at least in part – because she had made disclosures “about the chair’s inappropriate conduct towards me and [interference] in the independence of the ABC”.

The details emerged a day after the ABC’s acting chair, Dr Kirstin Ferguson, said would be an “unreasonable expectation” for the public to learn the reason behind her firing.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/29/michelle-guthrie-reportedl...

 

????“unreasonable expectation”???? Fuck! We, the public OWNS the ABC. Not the government, nor the board, nor Mr Murdoch. Dr Kirstin Ferguson has some guile in telling us "unreasonable expectation" for us to know the reasons of Michelle Guthrie's sacking, which smells quite bad for the board, which should be sacked, dismissed, erased, tada-ed. This ABC thingy has not the confidence of the public despite our new idiot-in-chief Scomo telling the board to "go back to work". What fucking work? The board is clueless and looks more like a cardboard board replica of government appointees...

An ABC spokeswoman declined to name the "external, independent expert" adviser.

"As noted, it [the matters raised by and with Michelle Guthrie] is being investigated and managed on a confidential basis," the spokeswoman said.

"I don't have any more information other than what is in the statement."

The decision not to name an external adviser is unusual, given that advisers handpicked for their independence, integrity and experience of such appointments are typically named as part of transparency.

Last week, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield appointed the secretary of Communications Department, Mike Mrdak, to undertake an inquiry to "establish the facts" in about the departures of Ms Guthrie and Mr Milne.

 

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-04/abc-board-appoints-independent-adv...

 

Anything to do with the ABC has to be ABOVE BOARD and should be transparent...  Your ABC is run by Shitfield and Co...

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield knew the ABC board was planning to sack managing director Michelle Guthrie a fortnight before she was formally dumped.

Key points:

• Senator Fifield argued the findings of an investigation show there was no political interference with the ABC
• He told the Senate he had a "professional relationship" with Ms Guthrie and Mr Milne
• Labor argued the Coalition could not pretend it had no role in the leadership turmoil at the ABC

 

Ms Guthrie was sacked late last month, after the board decided it was in the best interests of the organisation for her to go.

Shortly after, allegations were raised that ABC chair Justin Milne had pressured Ms Guthrie to sack two senior journalists because their reporting had angered the Federal Government.

 

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-15/fifield-knew-about-guthrie-sacking...

 

Read from top.

Not only Fifield is a member of the IPA — an organisation that wants to get rid of the ABC — in the guthrie Milne saga, he has been a major player, contrarily to the charter of the ABC.

----------

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield knew the ABC board was planning to sack managing director Michelle Guthrie a fortnight before she was formally dumped.

Key points:

• Senator Fifield argued the findings of an investigation show there was no political interference with the ABC
• He told the Senate he had a "professional relationship" with Ms Guthrie and Mr Milne
• Labor argued the Coalition could not pretend it had no role in the leadership turmoil at the ABC

 

Ms Guthrie was sacked late last month, after the board decided it was in the best interests of the organisation for her to go.

Shortly after, allegations were raised that ABC chair Justin Milne had pressured Ms Guthrie to sack two senior journalists because their reporting had angered the Federal Government.

He quit shortly after, following significant pressure to stand down.

Today Senator Fifield told the Senate he had received the findings of an investigation by the Secretary of the Communications Department Mike Mrdak into the incident, and argued it showed there was no political interference with the public broadcaster.

....

Today Senator Fifield told the Senate he had received the findings of an investigation by the Secretary of the Communications Department Mike Mrdak into the incident, and argued it showed there was no political interference with the public broadcaster.

Senator Fifield told the Senate he had a "professional relationship" with both Ms Guthrie and Mr Milne.

"Let me be clear, prior to these media reports I was not aware of the allegations of encounters between the former managing director and the former chair in relation to staffing matters," he said.

The Minister also outlined the chain of events leading up to Ms Guthrie's sacking.

"The then-chair spoke to me in Canberra on September 12 to advise that the board no longer believed the managing director was best placed to lead the organisation," Senator Fifield said.

"He further advised that he would be conveying this to the managing director on behalf of the board the following day. 

"Although not sure where this matter would land, he hoped that a mutually agreeable path could be found. I indicated to the chair that I respected the managing director's position was, under the legislation, a matter for the board.

"Given the uncertainty as to how this would conclude, and out of respect for the privacy of the managing director, I undertook to not further convey that information at that time."

The Federal Opposition argued the Coalition could not pretend it had no role in the leadership turmoil at the ABC.

"What [Senator Fifield] attempted this morning is to come in here and wipe the blood off his hands for all the damage that he's done to the ABC," Labor senator Deb O'Neill said.

She accused him of "cleaning up after the scene of the crime of constant and persistent attacks on our national broadcaster".

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-15/fifield-knew-about-guthrie-sacking...

 

A $1.2m inquiry, which included a fact-finding mission to London for the expert panel, found this week that the ABC and the SBS were not disrupting News Corp’s business model by offering free online news and streaming, and the biggest threat was Facebook and Google. The Australian, which had campaigned hard for the inquiry, called it “a bitter pill” to swallow.

“It is glaringly obvious the ABC enjoys a competitive advantage over commercial media,” blasted the Oz commentator Mark Day in defiance of the actual evidence in the report by the economist Robert Kerr, the commercial TV lobbyist Julie Flynn and the former ABC TV executive and producer Sandra Levy. “It is gifted a billion dollars a year of your money and doesn’t need to bother about small matters like raising enough revenue to fund its business or deliver a profit to shareholders. But in the world of bureaucratic gobbledygook, this does not mean it has an unfair advantage.”

Ordered by the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, to get Pauline Hanson on side for his media reforms, the competitive neutrality inquiry was an expensive exercise which even required the panel to hop on a plane to examine the BBC model of public broadcasting. The comprehensive rejection of all the complaints from the commercial broadcasters, Fairfax Media and Rupert Murdoch’s outlets was not the result the Australian was hoping for and the paper’s headlines didn’t exactly match the spirit of the report.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/dec/14/positive-finding-on-abc-an...

 

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