With profound sadness, ABC Alumni honours the life of our dear colleague Caroline Jones (1938-2022) – loved, respected and revered for her generosity, decency and humanity. Her deep sense of public duty, and media responsibility, has influenced generations of journalists. Listen to ABC interview with Helen Grasswill about Caroline’s lasting legacy Read ABC obituary by Megan Mackander

ABC chair Ita Buttrose has been a stalwart defender of ABC independence, so it’s hard to fathom why she and her directors plan to create a complaints system with an Ombudsman who answers direct to the Board, not to the Managing Director. This structure, if it goes ahead, would be unique among comparable media organisations in the democratic world, and is not without potential perils.By Jonathan Holmes / 19 May 2022 What, precisely, are the Chair of the ABC Board, Ita Buttrose, and her fellow Di...

In a wide-ranging speech in Sydney today, respected former ABC broadcaster Kerry O’Brien has spoken of his despair at the lack of political leadership in Australia. “I have never seen Australian politics so rudderless,” he told a capacity crowd at a major election campaign rally organised by ABC Friends in conjunction with ABC Alumni. “Our parliament is failing us. Political leadership is in drought. Our public broadcaster is under sustained attack. And our democracy is in trouble.” Kerry’s mes...

Policy failure over the last eight years – including a massive cut to the ABC’s international funding – has weakened Australia’s voice in the Pacific to its lowest ebb since the Menzies government established our first radio shortwave service across the region more than 80 years ago. Now, with China’s media expansion and the recent Solomon Islands crisis, it’s obvious that Australia can’t afford to waste any more time in properly re-establishing its media presence and engagement with our Pacifi...

“Never, in my lifetime, has the ABC been more important than it is today…yet it is constantly under attack.” – Kerry O’Brien The former presenter of Lateline, The 7.30 Report and Four Corners, Kerry O’Brien presents the latest in a series of short campaign videos produced by ABC Alumni for social media platforms. In the video released today (Wednesday 11 May), Kerry points out that the USA spends less per capita than any other wealthy country on public broadcasters – and that only 29% of Amer...

As chief foreign correspondent, Phil Williams was the ABC’s international fireman, able to swing into virtually any country in the world and produce intelligent reports from a standing start.   In this video, from his farm outside Canberra, Phil worries out loud about the ABC’s continued capacity to report the world to Australia – and project Australia to our region.  The slashing of the Australia Network by the Abbott government, and the whittling away of the ABC’s once-unrivalled network of o...

Pete Lewis is a bit of a legend in rural Australia.  He joined the ABC in 1980, and was for years the ABC’s Brisbane-based rural reporter.  He was EP of Landline for five years, and New Zealand correspondent for two.   Brisbane-based Pete left the ABC a few years back, and is now the director of media consultancy ‘Way with Words’, and President of the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists   Appropriately, his Twitter handle is @endofthebitumen.  Pete’s election campaign message for ABC...

The ABC has invited both major party leaders to a nationally televised election debate. But regrettably this invitation has been declined by the Prime Minister in favour of two commercial free-to-air networks, and one subscriber-only channel. And yet it is the ABC that is required by law to cover parliamentary sittings, question time and inquiries by parliamentary committees as part of its Charter obligations to the Australian people.  ABC Alumni believes Mr Morrison’s avoidance of the ABC is b...