Glenys Stradijot Friends of the ABC (Vic) office Campaign Manager Ph: +61 3 9682 0073 Ph: +61 3 9525 5717 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mobile 0409 11 0411 www.fabc.org.au PO Box 2103, St Kilda West 3182 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________
Media Release: Melbourne ABC Loses Sport to Sydney Below is the text of a Letter to the Editor from Terry Laidler, FABC Vic President which will give you FABC Vic's position on this matter. For further comment, please phone me and I will direct you to an FABC spokesperson available to comment on the issue when you call. Glenys Stradijot, Campaign Manager Re: Melbourne ABC Loses Sport to Sydney Sport is integral to the life and culture of Victoria. Some would argue Melbourne is the capital of sport. Excluding one-off international occurrences, it regularly conducts bigger events and draws larger crowds than Sydney. ABC sport has been a part of Victoria for over 70 years. Victorians will not accept ABC television replacing its weekday state-based sports news coverage with a national package from Sydney. It does matter where people making sports programs are based. Understandably, their judgement about what the public is interested in is influenced by the city in which they are located. If you think the home state of a media outlet is not relevant to its content, just look at the back page of last weekend's Australian, devoted entirely to rugby. And the approach between states sometimes differs too. Melbournians generally appreciate more considered and less brash commentary. Increasing commercialisation of sport has resulted in the seriously under-funded ABC being unable to broadcast many major sports events. But what the ABC has done well, is to provide comprehensive exposure across a wide range of sports. As the ABC seeks to find ways to get by with insufficient funds, the danger is that localism will be lost, that the ABC will become Sydney-centred in sport and in other important areas. Doubtless, Victorians will let the ABC know they will not accept any of its sports reporting being lost to Sydney. But, in no uncertain terms, all Australians should also let their federal politicians know that the national broadcaster needs the funds to fulfill its responsibility to reflect local diversity in sport and in every other important area of our lives. -- Visit the proposed Leftlink web site at http://www.leftlink.net/ -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
