Extract from The Guardian
Jonathan Shier, whose ABC reign was even more tumultuous than
Michelle Guthrie’s, is back. Plus: so are Sky’s broadcasters of
offensive content
When
the ABC lost its managing director and chairman within three days last
week the one person we didn’t need to hear from was Jonathan Shier, an
ABC MD who was sacked less than two years into his tumultuous reign in
2001. But the Australian looked him up and published an earnest think piece headed “How to rebuild trust in our troubled public broadcaster” without a hint of irony.
“It would certainly appear the last chairman failed Public Broadcasting 101 in instructing a managing director to sack journalists in order to appeal to or appease the government of the day,” Shier wrote.
But Shier, a former president of the Victorian Young Liberals and private secretary to a Fraser government minister, has a short memory. He was the only managing director to succeed in temporarily delaying the broadcast of a Four Corners program.
In 2001 a Four Corners program called Party Tricks, reported by Andrew Fowler and produced by Quentin McDermott, told the story of political espionage and dirty tricks which implicated some Liberal party members. The program was cleared by the ABC’s in-house lawyer Judith Walker and the barrister Tom Blackburn, who had been asked for advice. But Shier called in his own barrister, Henric Nicholas QC, and ordered that the program be delayed for a week. The episode is recalled in the book Whose ABC? by the late Ken Inglis. Inglis wrote that the then Labor leader, Kim Beazley, said Shier’s interference “had jeopardised the political independence of the ABC”.
Shier’s barrister agreed with Walker and Blackburn, and the program was cleared for broadcast. It aired on 23 July. Shier was asked to resign by the former chairman Donald McDonald after a revolt by ABC executives against his abrasive style and management. Unlike Michelle Guthrie, he negotiated a payout and a face-saving exit.
The reason the Oz likes Shier, of course, is that Shier also thinks the ABC is biased. “Unlike [Justin] Milne, who chose to announce on his arrival at the ABC that he did not think the ABC was biased, I have always thought it has the tendency to be so,” he wrote. “I am still trying to remember the last time the ABC was seriously accused of leaning to the right. However, as managing director, my only concern was that there should be the correct internal editorial procedures to encourage fairness and balance.”
“We all know on Monday night, you know, you watch a lady present Four Corners and then you see her husband chair Q&A,” Shier said.
Bolt: “Sarah Ferguson and Tony Jones.”
Shier: “I mean Tony Jones is in Paris and he meets a lady who’s a researcher for him. I don’t want to dwell on this too much but I’d like to think of all the journalists in Australia it doesn’t naturally flow that on one night a husband-and-wife team should be basically both performing.” Bolt was in furious agreement, saying: “They only fraternise with each other.”
It hasn’t taken long for Sky News to promote the men who only months ago were apologising for putting offensive views to air.
After the Outsiders program had to apologise for broadcasting offensive remarks about the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Sky has rewarded Rowan Dean and Ross Cameron by extending their show. Outsiders will continue on Sunday morning but will now also be broadcast at 11pm from Monday through Thursday from 15 October.
In July Dean and Cameron apologised for “crossing a line” in their interview with Senator David Leyonhjelm and Sky apologised for broadcasting a strap that said Hanson-Young was “well known for liking men”.
Another Sky presenter to be rewarded for his bad behaviour is the former Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles, who is back from a suspension in August after he broadcast an interview with the far-right extremist Blair Cottrell.
“Well I’m back, back on Sky News, between 6-7pm EST Sunday nights on Foxtel,” Giles announced on his Facebook page.
The new schedule means the experienced finance journalist Janine Perrett, who hosted Heads Up, has been dropped.
The new line-up also features the Daily Telegraph political editor,
Sharri Markson, in her first solo primetime show, called simply Sharri.
Markson is a great fit for Sky, which boasts a line-up groaning with
critics of the ABC. She argued in her column last week that its
chairman, Justin Milne, was right to try to address “the left-wing bias
that has taken hold of what should be an objective media organisation”.
“He
was also right to focus on the journalism of [Andrew] Probyn and [Emma]
Alberici, where ideology has infused their reports,” she wrote.
The editorial interference was the right idea, wrong approach, she said. “Instead of demanding Michelle Guthrie sack journalists, he should have asked Guthrie to address ongoing issues of objectivity in news reports. That would have been applauded by the Australian community.”
Although the photo was captioned “June 1996” it was actually taken in April, meaning Lane was only about four months pregnant when Bower coached her.
“It would certainly appear the last chairman failed Public Broadcasting 101 in instructing a managing director to sack journalists in order to appeal to or appease the government of the day,” Shier wrote.
But Shier, a former president of the Victorian Young Liberals and private secretary to a Fraser government minister, has a short memory. He was the only managing director to succeed in temporarily delaying the broadcast of a Four Corners program.
In 2001 a Four Corners program called Party Tricks, reported by Andrew Fowler and produced by Quentin McDermott, told the story of political espionage and dirty tricks which implicated some Liberal party members. The program was cleared by the ABC’s in-house lawyer Judith Walker and the barrister Tom Blackburn, who had been asked for advice. But Shier called in his own barrister, Henric Nicholas QC, and ordered that the program be delayed for a week. The episode is recalled in the book Whose ABC? by the late Ken Inglis. Inglis wrote that the then Labor leader, Kim Beazley, said Shier’s interference “had jeopardised the political independence of the ABC”.
Shier’s barrister agreed with Walker and Blackburn, and the program was cleared for broadcast. It aired on 23 July. Shier was asked to resign by the former chairman Donald McDonald after a revolt by ABC executives against his abrasive style and management. Unlike Michelle Guthrie, he negotiated a payout and a face-saving exit.
The reason the Oz likes Shier, of course, is that Shier also thinks the ABC is biased. “Unlike [Justin] Milne, who chose to announce on his arrival at the ABC that he did not think the ABC was biased, I have always thought it has the tendency to be so,” he wrote. “I am still trying to remember the last time the ABC was seriously accused of leaning to the right. However, as managing director, my only concern was that there should be the correct internal editorial procedures to encourage fairness and balance.”
Two men and ‘a lady’
On Sky News with Andrew Bolt recently Shier demonstrated the sort of language and behaviour that made his 19-month term so explosive. Without using her name, Shier attempted to insult and belittle Sarah Ferguson, the host of Four Corners. Ferguson is a multiple Walkley-award winner, who had a stellar career overseas and at SBS and Nine before joining the ABC. But Shier implied Ferguson was only on TV because she was the wife of the Q&A host, Tony Jones.“We all know on Monday night, you know, you watch a lady present Four Corners and then you see her husband chair Q&A,” Shier said.
Bolt: “Sarah Ferguson and Tony Jones.”
Shier: “I mean Tony Jones is in Paris and he meets a lady who’s a researcher for him. I don’t want to dwell on this too much but I’d like to think of all the journalists in Australia it doesn’t naturally flow that on one night a husband-and-wife team should be basically both performing.” Bolt was in furious agreement, saying: “They only fraternise with each other.”
Crossing the line – and back again
WATCH: Former ABC Managing director Jonathan Shier on several problems the ABC has including bias and staffing issues. #theboltreport @SkyNewsAust
MORE: https://bit.ly/2zsLQk1
After the Outsiders program had to apologise for broadcasting offensive remarks about the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Sky has rewarded Rowan Dean and Ross Cameron by extending their show. Outsiders will continue on Sunday morning but will now also be broadcast at 11pm from Monday through Thursday from 15 October.
In July Dean and Cameron apologised for “crossing a line” in their interview with Senator David Leyonhjelm and Sky apologised for broadcasting a strap that said Hanson-Young was “well known for liking men”.
Another Sky presenter to be rewarded for his bad behaviour is the former Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles, who is back from a suspension in August after he broadcast an interview with the far-right extremist Blair Cottrell.
“Well I’m back, back on Sky News, between 6-7pm EST Sunday nights on Foxtel,” Giles announced on his Facebook page.
The new schedule means the experienced finance journalist Janine Perrett, who hosted Heads Up, has been dropped.
While I very much appreciate all your support I just want to clarify that I am still at Sky and this is just one of those programming changes that often happen in TV. I have had shows changed before and am sure there will be another opportunity at Sky soon. I'll keep you updated
With both the MD and Chair gone — and the board damaged in credibility — the bias that is so obvious to any avid consumer of the ABC’s political coverage shows no signs of being addressed. My column today. http://bit.ly/2OQo4nc
The editorial interference was the right idea, wrong approach, she said. “Instead of demanding Michelle Guthrie sack journalists, he should have asked Guthrie to address ongoing issues of objectivity in news reports. That would have been applauded by the Australian community.”
Lane correction
The ABC has had to correct one of the scenes in Exposed: The Case of Keli Lane, a three-part series by the investigative reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna which concludes its season next Tuesday. The swimming coach Phil Bower was shocked when he was shown a photo of Lane and told he had failed to notice she was six and a half months pregnant when he was her water polo coach.Although the photo was captioned “June 1996” it was actually taken in April, meaning Lane was only about four months pregnant when Bower coached her.
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