As to the decisionnot to renew the contract of Andrew Probyn,no staff member – not even a Canberra journalist – is indispensable. We might never know the full story behind Probyn’s departure,but it was a legitimate management decision. There were plenty of willing and capable foot-soldiers eager to take his place in the ranks. Richard Carleton and Laurie Oakes were once newcomers,too.
Far more troubling to us has been the ABC’s failure to control the extracurricular opinionating of its on-air staff.
The recent sackings of two presenters who paraded their views on other outlets had the distinct sound of a stable gate being slammed shut well after the bias horse had bolted.
ABC SydneyAfternoons host Josh Szeps’ planned departure from the broadcasterwas brought forward following an unauthorised appearance on a Sky News programlast week. And stand-inMornings presenter Antoinette Lattoufwas terminated over her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas conflict.
It is not as if the ABC’s leaders have not been advised to formulate and maintain clear and enforceable rules to constrain expressions of opinion by their employees. In response,they devised reams of lofty “guidance” paperwork that has clearly languished unread in the bottom desk drawers and inbox files of the staff who most need to understand the issues. It would help if those rules were widely published.
The core principle is simple enough:objectivity and impartiality are articles of faith in public broadcasting that reporters and presenters must accept as sacrosanct. The defence that private posts on social media or guest appearances on another network,being personal,are somehow separate and not bound by that principle is untenable,as ABC management has belatedly confirmed.