2016-02-25
Any merger of the ABC and SBS would be in name only, it would more closely resemble a takeover of SBS and NITV by the ABC, the Australian Greens said today.
"What SBS and NITV are able to accomplish with comparatively tiny budgets is extraordinary, and the value of these services goes far beyond the purely economic," Australian Greens Communications Spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said today.
"SBS radio broadcasts in more than 70 languages. The Australia Institute report that kicked off this debate acknowledged that fewer than 8% of content makers at the ABC are from a non-English speaking background.
"The suggestion that the ABC could just translate its content overlooks the fundamental difference between simply sharing the same information in a different language, and placing that information into a familiar cultural context. It is this cultural communication that SBS can provide, it's a massive contribution to our multicultural society that can not be measured in purely financial terms.
"The most important stakeholders in this debate - the multicultural communities represented by the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia that are serviced by SBS and the Aboriginal communities being serviced by NITV - are yet to be heard. The debate itself is serving as reminder of SBS' importance; it gives these too-frequently silenced communities a voice and a place of their own.
"It would be a terrible pity if the only legacy of outgoing ABC director Mark Scott's otherwise very insightful speech was the ammunition he's provided to virulent opponents of public broadcasting, the same people he's had to battle throughout his tenure at the ABC," Senator Ludlam concluded.