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Cuts in news send strange signals from SBS
It was never going to be easy putting the good ship SBS back on course. Following hard on cuts to the multicultural broadcaster’s world famous subtitling unit, the axe is falling on the TV network’s other claim to fame: its news service. News Director Paul Cutler sent an email to all his staff asking for a show of hands of those willing to take voluntary redundancy. He said numbers would be small and blamed the need to pump more … Read entire article »
The many voices of one Australia – just not inside the building please!
On its own, the shedding of more than 10 jobs in SBS’s relatively small Subtitling Unit could simply be a sad necessity, a realistic remedy for straitened economic times. SBS has limited funds, is not immune to economic downturns and must adapt to changing demands for subtitling foreign programs. SBS managing director Shaun Brown gave a Senate Estimates committee on Monday the reasons for what he called “surplus capacity” in Subtitling: “Firstly, technology has changed and consequently there … Read entire article »
Too little too late for SBS?
After years of downplaying SBS’s multicultural credentials, managing director Shaun Brown now wants to be besties with the ethnic lobby. It might be too little, too late. Speaking at a recent symposium at Murdoch University entitled “Racism Revisited”, SBS managing director Shaun Brown made a case for allocating more funds for multicultural broadcasting at Australia’s second national network. Many in the audience would have been a little taken aback. Was this the same Shaun Brown who, in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Media
The bad news SBS was never going to report – about itself.
A confidential poll of staff at Australia’s junior public broadcaster, SBS, has painted a bleak picture of their faith in the corporation’s management. The survey measuring employee engagement found fewer than half the 614 staff polled thought SBS performed well in managing performance, promotion, innovation and communication. In some work areas, satisfaction was less than a quarter on individual issues. The workplace survey conducted in 2009 was based on methodology by the New Zealand-based pollsters JRA, following a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Media
SBS’s lost decade – an accident or vandalism?
When retiring SBS Chair Carla Zampatti steps up to receive the plaudits of employees at the broadcaster’s end-of-year party tomorrow night[1], it will mark the end of perhaps the most destructive era in the multicultural broadcaster’s 34-year history. Many fine words will be spoken, reams of media releases praising her time at the helm will be distributed — but nothing will be able to disguise the fact that, on balance, her tenure has been a flop. While the broadcaster … Read entire article »
When humour is no laughing matter
The so-called Muhammad cartoon controversy in Denmark led to killings, death threats and worldwide protests in what Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the time was his country’s worst international crisis since World War II. In June 2009, a sketch on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s The Chaser comedy program about dying children making wishes caused national outrage and led to the suspension of the weekly series and the sacking of the ABC’s head of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Journalism
Who let the racist cats out of the bag?
Attacks on Indian students in Australia — and the protests they have sparked — have given the nation another of its periodic chances to examine its credentials as a friendly, peace-loving, multicultural society. This happens every couple of years, usually prompted by dramatic headlines which most recently have ranged from anti-Lebanese riots in Cronulla to increased arrivals of boatpeople. This time the issue revolves around racism: Is Australia a racist nation or just home to a … Read entire article »
Can the ethnic lobby save Australia’s multicultural broadcaster?
Everyone was very polite at a senate estimates hearing in Canberra whenever talk got near a possible merger between the ABC and SBS. ABC managing director Mark Scott declared that his organisation was “committed to working with SBS to identify joint efficiency savings around our distribution and transmission”. His SBS counterpart Shaun Brown boasted that this was his idea from the 2020 summit and he wanted to “fully explore” ways to “benefit both broadcasters”. Their Minister, Senator Conroy, … Read entire article »
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