ABC management has warned its journalists not to “indulge” their personal feelings and “overstate” the impact of the Coalition’s $254m cut to the ABC budget when reporting on the issue.
A confidential memo titled “Guidance for ABC staff on editorial issues arising from anticipated budget cuts” asks journalists to treat the story like they would any other story about a public institution, even if their own job or program is directly affected.
The ABC’s managing director, Mark Scott, will address staff at 11am on Monday with the details of his plans to slice the budget.
“This will be a challenging climate for staff in both the radio and news divisions attempting to provide accurate and impartial coverage of announcements and events,” the memo obtained by Guardian Australia says.
“It will be particularly so for those working on programs directly or indirectly affected by cuts or changes, or whose colleagues may be affected.”
Programs likely to be affected by the budget cuts are Lateline and the eight local editions of 7.30 as well as the radio news division, specialist Radio National programming and Classic FM.
The SBS managing director, Michael Ebeid, has timed his announcement to staff to be at the same time as the ABC’s, he told staff on Thursday.
“Whilst this cut was anticipated it is clearly sizeable and will naturally be felt by our organisation,” he said in an all-staff email.
“We will continue to review the funding cut outcome over the next couple of days and I will take you through these changes at a Communic8 session to be held in the Sydney Atrium and broadcast in Melbourne and Canberra at 11am this coming Monday 24th November, to ensure we have maximum attendance.
“Ordinarily, SBS is funded within a triennial model and this cut has come in the middle of that cycle which is disappointing, as our preferred outcome would have been to retain the stability the triennial model provides, given our long-term supplier agreements.”
The ABC memo tells journalists to apply the same public interest to the story as they would if it were another body like the CSIRO.
“While going through this process be careful not to assign this story more time than you would to a similar story about a comparable organisation. The ABC must not ‘indulge’ itself during a period such as this.
“Be careful about your use of language. Make sure that both your words and your tone remain neutral. For example, don’t overstate the story to make an impact. Be particularly careful to be accurate about the effect of any changes. There may be competing claims around such things as the acute size of the cuts and the flow-on effect on jobs.
“For many if not all of you, this will be a testing time. To achieve the high standards of professional coverage expected of you and but the ABC we recommend that you read our comprehensive guidance note on impartiality.”
ABC staff have been told that during Scott’s presentation on Monday the Ultimo building will be locked to the public and they will need a staff card to attend the meeting.
