Amid endless reviews into the future of local screen content, uncertainty reigns on issues such as the impact of Netflix, the fate of local content quotas and funding for original children’s TV.
Sean Keenan in Australian sci-fi drama Glitch. The show’s second season was a co-production between ABC TV and Netflix.
ABC TV/IMDB
The ABC’s new show Ask the Doctor goes some way to explain the many contributors to obesity. So, why spoil it with the take-home message that willpower is all you need to lose weight?
The ABC’s role as a provider of Australian stories can only become more important in a rapidly changing media landscape.
Paul Miller/AAP
The ABC is dragging its heels in providing new Australian content to audiences, due to a lack of governance, an inadequate Charter and its poor relationship with the independent production sector.
Scrutiny of the sources, evidence and bias behind our public figures’ statements is more important than ever.
Chris Blakeley/Flickr
In a time of slippery weasel words and ‘alternative facts’, we are delighted to see the return of the ABC fact-checking unit in collaboration with RMIT.
Can screen adaptations of literary classics ever be as good as the source text? Well, yes. As the new ABC miniseries The Beautiful Lie shows, they can explore timeless themes in unpredictable and engaging ways.
The ABC has, in general, been able to withstand the pressures and (less common) interventions of governments or media barons.
AAP/Joel Carrett
It’s to be yet another week of crisis, inspection and introspection for the forever under pressure BBC as the government is set to publish a green paper on Thursday, which will, the Guardian says, signal…
NBC newscaster John Cameron Swayze was television’s first “anchor man” – though not for presenting the news. The term referred to his status as permanent panelist of the quiz show Who Said That?
Wikimedia Commons
Sometimes things that are pretty simple for most people can seriously confuse an economist. The heat over the ABC cuts is a good example of the blurry line between economics – and the economics of politics…
Not everyone is happy about Malcolm Turnbull’s cuts to ABC funding – but they may represent value for the taxpayer.
Michael Scott
Malcolm Turnbull’s well-telegraphed announcement yesterday that the ABC’s funding will be cut by A$254 million over five years is no surprise. But, broken election promise aside, this is actually something…
Deborah Mailman and Elizabeth Wymarra play the Housewives of Naorromine in Black Comedy.
ABC
ABC’s new Indigenous sketch show Black Comedy, which premiered last night, is touted as a “show by blackfellas … for everyone”. As a blackfella, I’m not sure I agree that it is for “everyone” but that’s…
Comedies such as Please Like Me help to break the stigma around mental health.
ABC Publicity
So what’s funny about mental illness? Very little. It can be hard to smile, let alone laugh, when every day feels like a wet blanket. When someone makes a joke about mental illness, it often trivialises…
There’s more than one way to decode ABC’s The Code.
ABC
ABC’s six-part political thriller The Code is shaping up as the most challenging political thriller on Australian television since the BBC’s House of Cards (1990). And, like the BBC series – and its recent…
Let’s hope the series tackles the big projects in its satirical sweep.
Utopia, photo: Hwa Goh, ABC
Crack open the champagne. The return of Australian satirical drama to ABC television is cause for celebration. Utopia, an eight-part series that launched last week, is the real deal. It offers a high-energy…
The Dreamhouse launches tonight on ABC1.
Artemis Films
“I’m not a mummy’s boy any more!” proclaims Justin. “You never were!”, counters his mother Margaret. Justin, aged 32, is leaving home for the first time. He has Down syndrome and he and two others who…
The ABC has a charter requirement to reflect the national identity – but it falls short when it comes to cultural diversity.
Velovotee
Australia’s national broadcaster this week launched a rebranding campaign for its flagship television channel, ABC1, that features Australians from diverse cultural backgrounds. But if you look at the…
Hope, faith and miracle are the operative words when it comes to stem cell tourism.
pol sifter/Flickr
Stem cell tourism is when people travel to another country to receive treatments unavailable to them at home. It exists chiefly because most stem cell “treatments” are unproven and not readily available…
Professor of Bioethics & Medicine, Sydney Health Ethics, Haematologist/BMT Physician, Royal North Shore Hospital and Director, Praxis Australia, University of Sydney
Professor - Emerging Technologies (Stem Cells) at The University of Melbourne and Group Leader - Stem Cell Ethics & Policy at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne