ABC chairman Kim Williams has launched another attack on his own journalists over the quality of news the national broadcaster publishes.
Williams, who took over the presidency from Ita Buttrose in March, appeared at the Byron Writers Festival in Byron Bay at the weekend, where he was questioned by former 7.30 Report presenter Kerry O’Brien.
O’Brien persuaded Williams to speak about ABC’s news department, which he had described as “unsatisfactory” during a staff meeting earlier this month.
Williams’ comments came as staff continue to criticise the ABC’s move of Sydney headquarters from the CBD to the city’s western suburbs.
“I think we have, on the one hand, a tendency to have too much news and current affairs that is filler and bland,” Williams told the Byron audience, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
“I think we sometimes tend to resort to what is more representative of sensationalist sensibilities than what I would consider national responsibility.”
However, he largely blamed a lack of funding for the ABC’s downfall, specifically a 13.7 percent reduction during the coalition government’s time in power.
“The ABC I inherited is very deteriorated and has become so over time,” he said.
ABC president Kim Williams (pictured) criticised his news department’s “tendency to have too much news and current affairs that is filler and bland.”
Williams was notoriously critical of his reporters earlier this month, labeling them “unsatisfactory” during a staff meeting.
Williams said the cuts at the ABC had left it “a little more timid”, “a lot less confident” and “unfortunately, in my opinion, a lot more inward-looking”.
ABC staff have been “grumbling” about the broadcaster’s move to its new office in Parramatta, citing a longer commute and problems getting on-air talent. The Australian reported.
Staff began moving into the leased Parramatta site in May following a 2021 decision made by ABC managing director David Anderson and Buttrose, the chairwoman at the time.
ABC plans to move about 300 employees to the new location, a project that will cost $39 million, in order to improve its services in the western suburbs, which Williams called “the fastest-growing residential region in the country.”
“The move of local news and local radio to Parramatta is another chapter in the ABC’s story of adaptation, meeting audience expectations and honouring legislative obligations,” he said in May.
‘The decision to create radio and television facilities here and to provide space for up to 300 employees is therefore an extremely exciting step for the modern ABC.’
The decision to “modernise” has been widely regretted by ABC staff, as the 25-minute journey from the city centre has created logistical problems.
“It’s been a disaster, frankly,” said one worker.
‘Almost everyone is complaining about the trip (to Parramatta) and no one really sees the point in it all.
‘If the idea was that we needed to engage more closely with the people of Western Sydney, it’s been a failure.
‘Why do presenters who live in studios need to be moved out of the CBD?
‘And not only do journalists still need to do much of their work in the city, but on-air talent who might previously have been happy to come into the studio for face-to-face chats are reluctant to do so.’
Williams’ comments come amid a staff revolt over the relocation of ABC headquarters from Sydney’s CBD to Parramatta in the city’s western suburbs (pictured, view from the new office).
Williams (left) said funding cuts to the ABC had left it “a bit more timid”, “a lot less confident” and “unfortunately, in my opinion, a lot more inward-looking”.
Several other ABC insiders said the move could cost the broadcaster some of its top on-air talent.
ABC’s Sydney Drive host Richard Glover has reportedly been one of the most vocal critics of the new Parramatta office and his views were made public in a column he wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald in June.
The piece was titled: ‘Give me back my landline, my desk drawers and my gloomy old office.’
The column was widely interpreted as Glover’s “de facto public complaint” against ABC.
All ABC Sydney radio programs on weekdays are broadcast from the Parramatta bureau, except Craig Reucassel’s breakfast show.
Reucassel is expected to join the new location soon.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the ABC for comment.
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