TELLING OUR STORY

 The ABC of talking to neighbours

 

Image:  ABC

Do we care how others see us? Not much if our prime showcase ABC Australia is a guide.

 It seems Corporation managers take a couple of positions on the overseas TV service. The staid reckon it’s a tiresome Charter-imposed chore, so just serve sportsicks on hols with League and AFL.

 Progressives spot chances to tell that Australia’s not just a cuddle-koala stopover, but a maturing society trying to get from down under to on top.

 In its 2019 report  A Missed Opportunity for Projecting Australia’s Soft Power the Lowy Institute claimed ‘international broadcasting is one of the most effective forms of public diplomacy, if managed properly…

  ‘Australia is explicitly competing for global and regional influence, yet Australia’s international broadcasting has been weakened through a combination of government inconsistency and neglect, ideology-driven decisions, budget cuts and apparent ABC management indifference.’

 Has anything changed?   Yes, but … A few programmes, like Foreign Correspondent, Books That Made Us and The School That Tried To End Racism now have Indonesian subtitles.  (Nat Geo, Discovery and other international telecasters keen to reach far and deep subtitle all fare.  Indian sitcoms are dubbed.)

 Most Indonesians still rely on TV for info but few follow English. One study ranked Indonesia 81 of 111 countries surveyed for proficiency.  

 ABC HQ in Ultimo is shuffling forward, though not fast enough to show we’re more than the descendants of murderous land thieves fumbling with ways to atone.

  We have the products, but not the packaging.  The World runs parochial pieces and a weather map that just squeezes NZ and PNG into the frame.  Programmes like the 7.30 Report are dropped or relocated with no alerts. Treat viewers with contempt and they’ll click on elsewhere.

 Some pluses: The ABC’s Jakarta bureau has reopened after the pandemic with correspondent Anne Barker. Other mainstream media, like the AFR are based in Singapore.  Which is like covering Canberra from Wellington.

 Balance means telling others how we see them and here the ABC is doing OK with three regulars - India Now, China Tonight and Planet America. Will the Arafura Sea gap get bridged?

 Sally Jackson of ABC News communications told this column ‘there are no other (programmes focused on specific countries) to announce at this time.’   If that response isn’t a  hint of plans to feature the world’s third largest democracy next door, then we’ll continue to know more of Mar-a-Lago than Istana Bogor, (a Presidential palace 60 km south of Jakarta.)

 On 14 February 2024  Indonesians go to the polls, making last year’s G20 Bali shindig look like a pub chat. The campaign is already gearing up through conferences, meetings, statements and spanduk (huge banners) which smother road signs and turn streetscapes into avenues of ads.

 The Constitution says two five-year terms as Pres are enough, so Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo can’t stay beyond October next year.  There’s been a tepid attempt to keep his shoes on the doorstep, but so far he’s shown minimal warmth.

 The president is elected by direct vote.  No compulsion.  Last time the turnout was 81 per cent of the 187 million registered voters – minimum age 17. The total population has increased by more than ten million (to an estimated 281 million) in the past five years.

 What Indonesians  know about Australia isn’t much and what they care is even less if surveys are right. On the street it’s often bemusement:  How can a country be independent with the Union Jack on its flag? Do pythons curl under toilet seats?  Are we really Washington’s deputy sheriff?

  That’s not our neighbours’  fault, because we’re making small effort to tell our story. The Coalition had little enthusiasm for public broadcasting, particularly if it meant spending money on a service for foreigners.  

 The former ABC managing director Mark Scott (now head of NSW Education) commented that pruning overseas services:

 ‘…runs counter to the approach adopted by the vast majority of G20 countries. Countries around the world are expanding their international broadcasting services as key instruments of public diplomacy.’ They include Britain, the US, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, France, Germany, Singapore, Russia and China.  

 The public broadcaster reportedly had $526 million cut from its budgets since 2014. Last November Communications Minister Michelle Rowland told The Guardian that on top of a new five-year funding cycle there’s a review underway.

 Labor calls its strategy a ‘strong Australian voice’ in the ‘Indo Pacific’. The term is spongy but here it apparently means 38 countries  disparate in culture, language, rule and drive, all served by one channel. Two years ago $11 million a year was being spent on its combined international services, with ABC Australia costing around $4 million. 

It’s distributed by Intelsat to re-broadcasters. They get it free, but the viewers don’t. In Indonesia, three pay-to-use cable services carry the service.

Voice of America’s annual budget is US $267 million, all from government funds. It broadcasts and telecasts in more than 40 languages, including Indonesian. The French Government is reported to spend E 102 million a year on France 24.

 The last ABC annual report  had a monthly viewership of ‘at least 3.6 million’ for ABC Australia.  The ten-member ASEAN population alone is 686 million.

  Declared candidate Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, who has just been put in charge of coordinating intel, has been involved in whacky dog whistling about invasion threats.

 The latest Is wanting army commands installed in Kalimantan province (Borneo) because ‘the natural resources of these regions (are) vulnerable to being stolen by other parties.’

Imagined LGBT infiltrators corrupting the pious is heading to be another dirty issue.  

 It will be Prabowo’s third stab at the top job. The former general went into exile in 1998 after being discharged for ‘misinterpreting orders’.

 If electors start to believe campaign claims poisoning the relationship they’ll need an independent trusted source for facts and counter-views.  Concerned viewers should click ABC Australia but only those who understand English.

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Disclosure: The author used to work for ABC Current Affairs.

 

First published in Independent Australia 10 February 2023: https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/the-abc-of-talking-to-neighbours,17217