ABC and SBS must lose editorial fear: Pike
Ronin Films director Andrew Pike says the Government must ensure that the ABC and SBS can operate without fear of political intervention and repercussions.
“I don’t know how, but it’s very much a Government issue, that the ABC and SBS as national broadcasters need to be independent in their editorial policy,” Pike told Encore.
Pike sent a letter to Encore, explaining that the ABC had withdrawn its offer to acquire Inka Straface’s documentary Hope in a Slingshot – about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – due to its policy of “impartiality” and not being able to find another program that could balance the opinions expressed in the film.
The distributor went public and media interest helped him get an immediate response.
“I had a phone call from the ABC and they said they would reconsider a suggestion that we made about a film that might be suitable as a balance for the film,” said Pike.
The decision to take it to the media, however, was not an easy one to make.
“It’s difficult because we all rely on the broadcasters for our livelihood, but there are important principles in play here. It’s not just about the film, but about making sure that our broadcasters can operate without fear of political intervention or repercussions.
“It’s a constant problem that the ABC and SBS face, and they should be able to operate without that fear. If a film has an important statement to make, they should be able to broadcast it, and in this case that was the original decision, even if the acquisition was later overthrown,” said Pike.
The ABC was involved in a similar controversy when it cancelled the December 2009 broadcast of The 10 Conditions of Love, a documentary about exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer. Its screening at last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival upset the Chinese government and triggered attacks on MIFF’s website. The documentary finally screened last month, but Pike feels that both The 10 Conditions of Love and Hope in a Slingshot are symptoms of a bigger problem.
“It’s a real concern for everyone in the community. Hope in a Slingshot indicates that this problem exists, and so did the 10 Conditions of Love.
“It’s like somehow the ABC feels it’s being attacked, but what we’re doing is attacking the situation in which they feel inhibited to broadcast something. It’s not an attack on the ABC but on the circumstances in which it operates,” he explained.
This needs to be addressed now. I recommend going to the ABC Advisory Council (abc.net.au/corp/abcac/) to voice a complaint.
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It’s not just the ABC and SBS, this is happening all over the world. The bias of the BBC is disgusting and the British Press Complaints Commission is unable to act because its terms of reference are too restrictive and allow that it is up to broadcasters to decide what they present. The results of this are very evident in the US where the vast majority of the population is extremely ignorant of world affairs and is deeply indoctrinated to a blinkered pro-US, American Interests and “world policeman” based, egocentric bias.
It’s all very well to dumb down the masses, but if the people controling the process of dumbing down are myopic psychopaths then the human race will become a degenerate species.
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