"The functional role of a public broadcaster is to look at their audience as citizens in a democracy, not as consumers," Mr Dempster said. "It comes from what's called the BBC Reithmodel which means you've got to be able to stand up to government and question government ... with no vested interest in consumerism."
Political matters of ABC & SBS Antipodean Angles
The ABC is in a fight for its life against powerful vested interests, Quentin Dempster has said as he accused Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull of a "complete misreading" of the national broadcaster.
"By '87 Keating had done a deal with Murdoch to set up what's called the cross-media rule, which allowed Murdoch to take over the Herald and Weekly Times. Talk about competition policy in Australia, it was a joke," Mr Dempster said. "I blame Keating for the distorting power of Rupert Murdoch in Australia... [his] dance with ...Murdoch ...has left this country with an inbuilt imbalance."
FROM the comfort of my retirement couch I have followed the recent debate on the role of the ABC and SBS. A column by Nick Cater in Friday’s The Australianand Gerard Henderson’s Media Watch Dog caught my attention.
Henderson wrote, “Quentin Dempster uses the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster to rally the troops to demonstrate against cuts to ABC funding. Mr Dempster is worried that7.30 NSW, which he presents, will be junked by ABC management. Currently, the not-so-talented Mr Dempster receives around $300,000 a year to present 30 minutes of television a week. So it is no surprise that your man Dempster wants 7.30 NSW retained.”
