Thanks for the memories, Ita – but the ‘B’ in ABC doesn’t stand for brand
Ita Buttrose finished up her five-year stint at the ABC this week by filming a six-minute video in which she gives one final lecture to the wayward young staffers dragging the good old-timey name of the national broadcaster through the mud.
It was the latest in a long line of baffling decisions made at the ABC recently. The 5.59 video (which is longer than Bohemian Rhapsody, by the way) was sent to ABC staff on Wednesday afternoon, and veers from a stern admonishment of employees who don’t value and protect the ‘brand’ to a shout out to Bluey as “the greatest ever Australian cattle dog”.
It is both a laundry list of ABC’s achievements and challenges over the past five years, and a bemoaning of the weakening of an Australian institution that happened on her watch.
“Over the years the ABC has become a brand. We are now Brand Australia. Our brand is our identity,” she said.
“It represents the how, what, and why of everything that we do – and needs to be protected and treated with respect by everyone who works at the ABC, in whatever area and capacity. Brand loyalty by listeners and viewers is essential for our successful longevity. It, too, must be valued.
“Once lost, it is almost impossible to get it back. Nothing can be taken for granted. So while my term as chair ends, the ABC’s future stays in your hands.
“Don’t take the ABC brand for granted. Look after it.”
Or, as the ABC’s director of news Justin Stevens wrote to staff in November, after some of them signed a petition calling for ethical coverage of the conflict in Gaza:
“As I have said several times recently, maintaining trust and credibility as an ABC staff member means you forgo the opportunity to share your opinions about stories which you report or may be involved in.”
Enough said.
The Antoinette Lattouf dismissal, and subsequent unfair dismissal lawsuit showed the ABC weren’t mucking about, as did their tone deaf/bullhorn-loud hiring of a notorious union-busting law firm to defend the action.
In the last year, the ABC has sacked high-profile political editor, Andrew Probyn – who sniped at the time: “I’ve been informed that the national broadcaster no longer need a political editor” – and dumped triple j group music director Richard Kingsmill, who was instrumental in creating what is surely the most robust arm of the ABC.
Unionised staffers “overwhelmingly” said they had “lost confidence in [ABC managing director] David Anderson because of his failure to address very real concerns about the way the ABC deals with external pressure and supports journalists from First Nations and culturally diverse backgrounds when they are under attack.” Claims which Ita called “abhorrent and incorrect” in response.
“Ita Buttrose, revealed she is completely out of touch with the concerns felt in newsrooms across Australia,” the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance acting chief, Adam Portelli said.
“Dozens of staff have told us their first hand experiences of feeling unsupported by management when under external attack and the negative impact this is having on their ability to do their jobs and on the reputation and integrity of the ABC. But Ms Buttrose failed to acknowledge these concerns.”
Stan Grant disagrees with Ita, too.
He quit last May, after claiming the ABC failed to protect him from “grotesque racist abuse” following his condemnation of King Charles’ coronation.
“Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me,” Grant wrote as he exited the broadcaster and pressed pause on a four-decade media career. “I don’t hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure.”
Ita’s farewell – which has the unearthly air of a video will – rightly points out the many reasons the ABC is necessary: as “an essential pillar of our Australian democracy”, as a reporter of frequent weather disasters, as “a forum for ideas, conversations and laughter and a safe, often magical place for Australia’s children”, and as “the independent, impartial, public interest broadcaster”.
She forgot to mention late night RAGE, but she still made her point. We need the ABC.
But in what form? This part of her video strikes an ominous tone: “Right from the ABC’s earliest days a key role for the ABC board has been to support ABC management as it manages change, often dramatic change”.
Maybe you support Ita. Maybe you think the journalists should shut up and stay off TikTok. Maybe you feel the ABC has received an unfair amount of criticism of late. Bluey is, after all, the greatest ever Australian cattle dog.
This is because Australians really care about the ABC. It matters to them. As Ita points out, ABC is Brand Australia.
You may have noticed Ita used the term ‘brand’ four times in around ten seconds when dressing down her ex-employees. Ita loves brands. She builds brands. She built the brand Cleo in the 1970s. She built the brand Ita in the 1980s, with a talk-back radio segment, and an Ask Ita column. Cold Chisel wrote a song about her.
Ita is so well-known in Australia she’s become a mononym, like Madonna, and she did that by successfully building commercial media enterprises, first for the Packers, then for the Murdochs, then for Ita. This is not what we need from the ABC. The ABC isn’t a brand. Nike is a brand. Bunnings is a brand. Kourtney Kardashian is a brand. Ita is a brand.
The ABC is not a commercial enterprise, despite the inordinate amount of Hottest 100 CDs and Wiggles merchandise currently occupying landfills. It is a service – a service we pay for.
It is a public utility.
I’ve previously voiced my unease at Ben Lamiter, a man from Nova, which is very much a brand, coming into the ABC as head of audio and therefore head of triple j, double j, ABC Local radio, and the ABC Listen app. It’s not because I think he will do a bad job. On the contrary, I fear he will do a very good job, a very effective job, with growth models and speak of scaling and ratings and brands and all the things that the ABC should be immune from.
We already have commercial networks. The ABC is something different. The ABC doesn’t need to scale. It still fits Australia fine.
The ‘B’ stands for broadcasting, not brand.
Enjoy your weekend.
Keep up to date with Mumbrella Daily
Got a tip?
Nathan Jolly is the Deputy Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
Linkedin
Well said Nathan. It’s great someone has pointed out that ABC is a service paid for by all tax payers so its staff should be thanking all Australians for being generous enough to continue supporting it. My impression is that the ABC management and staff think Australians should be thanking the for doing the job they are paid to do and for some unknown reason contend that part of their job is to direct Australians about how they should think about issues.
User ID not verified.
Good riddance Ita. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
User ID not verified.
That is correct, it’s a service to Australians, all of them. Not just for politically vocal journalists, or certain minorities to use for their own personal agendas. Stop the bias for people like grant, who instead of reporting has his own opinion and agenda and uses his position and the abc to push said opinion. The abc should report no opinion and have relevant content and show respect to the Australian public who fund it. If people want opinions watch sbs, nine, all the other major media outlets who have their agendas, keep political views, and opinions out of abc, except if your bob santamaria
User ID not verified.
Is Ita taking thge mickey??? Is this her final kick in the guts for those who really have tried to save the ABC?
User ID not verified.
Very biased
User ID not verified.
Thank you Nathan for saying what many of us know. Great article.
User ID not verified.
I agree with you totally, abc seems to be trying to hard to please what it feels are the the right toes not to tread on and in the process is delivering unconvincing depth of sincerity in all facets. One very obvious, mother and son, not all of human species was necessary to the point of losing all comedy and flow. Staff should be able to view s outside of their workplace,it’s possible that a majority of the viewers are in agreement and also would like to be heard
User ID not verified.
Agree with this opinion piece totally. ABC has often addressed the issues of news in the world. It is not like the commercial channels and we don’t ever want it to be. B is for Broadcasting not Brand. Keep being free to tell it like it is.
I’ve been proud of ABC for showing the issues of animal cruelty for instance that the Commercial channels are being silenced about, and on the human tragedy in Gaza.
It’s the main channel we watch.
User ID not verified.
Oh Ita! Your ‘Brand’ is but another step in some foul plot to privatise! People are used to you now, they will not notice the next intrusion… Never quite understood your position/popularity in the commercial world, definitely never equated that with a post on the ABC.
How funny that in all the years I never actually knew the name of that song, always did wonder what the tongue in cheek references were, (when I actually heard the words) Sadly, now I know it is even funnier!
User ID not verified.
I enjoyed the opinions in the article and felt my views were reflected. ABC has become a little too ‘tabloid’ as a result of attempts to compete with the commercial netwoks. We need the ABC to remain apart, that’s what makes it a great Australian service.
User ID not verified.
Stan Grant gave his personal option piece on royalty and must have thought everyone thought the same as him? Didn’t he expect others to have an opinion and have the right to express them? After all, he didn’t like the idea of a different culture involved in with his culture. Smacks of racism, but don’t let that get in the way of hypocrisy…
User ID not verified.
Well stated Nathan. There’s a fairly common statement being made these days by people and it’s along the lines of “Speak your truth” or “I have to speak my truth”. We no longer live in the past when editors and media managers dictated to journalists how a story was to be presented to the public. Journalism, good journalism, is about presenting the truth in its warts and all, not tinkering around the edges or sitting on the fence but at the same time also being able to do that with respect and diplomacy. We all have a voice. We, the public, refuse to be kept in the dark and therefore, we expect nothing less than respect from our media, that includes most of all, the ABC, which as people rightly point out, is financed by us, the taxpayer. I wish Ita well, but making barbed remarks about staff is not approriate as you are exiting stage right. It’s time for the ABC to refresh and turn over a new leaf. Here’s hoping.
User ID not verified.
Have your say