‘We can’t do it alone’: ABC stresses importance of regional papers as future of ACM titles remains unclear

In the same week as it internally announced the necessity of between 200 and 250 redundancies, the ABC’s director of news, Gaven Morris, warned that the public broadcaster is not a replacement for regional newspapers.

“The ABC’s obviously very privileged to have the support of public funding. And so it makes our model… notwithstanding what we’re about to go through with 200, 250 roles that need to go from the ABC. It does make our model obviously a little bit more stable,” Morris said, speaking on a virtual panel last week that focused on journalism in the context of COVID-19.

“But what I hope we don’t end up with is a world where we just argue that all of the media has to be demeaned and cut and reduced because one part of it is challenged in business models. I think very much about ACM’s [Australian Community Media] role in regional Australia. And I’ve heard this argument many times, that ‘Oh well, if all the newspapers go in regional Australia, there’s still an ABC.’

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