The ABC has more international news bureaux than any other Australian news organisation, and it has long had an unparalleled commitment to covering world news and current affairs.
Despite that, funding and resources for international coverage have been under pressure and successive Governments have failed to properly support the ABC’s vital role in this area.
In 2020, as part of expanding and building on a Foreign Policy White Paper, there was an inquiry into international development. ABC Alumni took the opportunity to make a submission focusing on the vital role played by the ABC in international broadcasting. You can read that submission here. In addition several Alumni members wrote articles on the need to support and properly fund the ABC’s international broadcasting:
When ABC International Spreads its Wings by Helen Grasswill 2023
When Politics Fail: The folly of Australia’s international media strategy by Helen Grasswill
Facing a World in Disarray by Geoff Heriot
China, media freedom and rebuilding Australia’s voice in the Asia Pacific by Jemima Garrett and Sue Ahearn
International broadcasting was again the focus back in 2018 when there was a review that specifically looked into Australian broadcasting services in the Asia Pacific. Alumni once again produced a detailed submission as well as the following articles:
Few hopeful signs in Asia Pacific Broadcast Review/Report misses the point and the moment by Richard Dinnen
In 2021 the current Head of ABC International wrote this article for ABC Alumni.