Hugh Marks is not the first ‘commercial’ outsider parachuted into ABC’s most senior executive role.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Sure,his departure from Nine was ungainly,withhis romantic relationship with a member of staff forcing the exit. But his performance as CEO,particularly with the value of hindsight,will be judged favourably by history.
What makes a good CEO in a listed company can be assessed fairly easily:the metrics of success are profit,return on capital and,ultimately,share price. As for governance,shareholders of public companies such as Nine are happy to outsource full governance control to the directors they vote in and the chief executive the directors appoint.
However,the ABC is a different beast. It doesn’t have a profit motive but an engagement motive,sayschairman Kim Williams,a man whose work history spans a vast spectrum,from not-for-profit organisations to the ultimate commercial machine,Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
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One issue Williams and Marks will have to contend with is that the ABC board is appointed by the government of the day,which also decideshow much funding the public broadcaster gets. That makes governance at the ABC an inherently politicised affair. The additional wrinkle is that a sizeable cohort of the Australian population takes the view that as a public broadcaster,they own the ABC and are entitled to an opinion on its content.
So dictating content policy at the ABC can be a daily walk through a minefield,including managing the expectations of the government,the public anda staff that often expects an outsized input into editorial decisions.
In choosing Marks,Williams has already received blowback from the ABC’s audience,accusing the chair of attempting to commercialise the organisation. “Using ‘commercial’ as a term of abuse is something I don’t understand,” Williams said on Tuesday.