ABC chief seeks massive funding boost

Australian Broadcasting corporation (ABC) chief Mark Scott will argue tomorrow night in a speech for a massive expansion in the broadcaster’s overseas services in an effort to rival the BBC, CNN and the emerging Chinese media offensive. Mr Scott will argue that Australia’s new-found influence as a member of the G20 group of nations means it needs to expand its ‘’soft diplomacy” campaign to win support not just in the Asia-Pacific region but around the world.

Under the Scott plan, the ABC would:

• Merge its international television service, Australia Network, and Radio Australia into a single brand
• Expand its broadcasts to reach 53 countries in Africa, 22 in the Middle East and up to 21 in Latin America
• Create five more news bureaus in the Asia-Pacific region, bringing its total to 14, more than the BBC or CNN.

The speech will be targetted in part at senior government decision-makers in foreign affairs and communications, who will need to chip in several hundred million dollars a year to make the plan a reality.

Mr Scott points out that Britain spends $868 million on the BBC’s overseas services; France more than $600 million and Germany $532 million on their overseas broadcasters; while China is in the midst of an $8 billion media expansion that will involve its bilingual Chinese-English television service going global by the end of next year. He contrasts this with the $34 million funding for the ABC’s overseas broadcasts, which is about the same spent by Mexico and Brazil.

The Department of Foreign Affairs-funded Australia Network currently broadcasts into 44 countries across the Asia-Pacific. Radio Australia has a network of 11 around-the-clock stations in almost every Pacific capital city.

Mr Scott’s plan will also seek to give the ABC a strategic advantage as it battles with Sky News for the contract to run the Australia Network, which expires in 2011.

(Source: The Age)