1980s to the 1990s

2000s

Corporation

Structure

Management

• Mr Mark Scott - Managing Director, appointed 5 July 2006
• Mr Maurice Newman AC - Chairperson, appointed January 1, 2007 the ABC is funded entirely by the Australian government, in addition to some revenue received from ABC Commercial. In the 2006-07 federal budget, the ABC received AUD$823 million of government funding.
     Until 1948, the ABC was funded directly by radio license fees - amendments were made to the Australian Broadcasting Act that meant the ABC would receive its funding directly from the Commonwealth government. License fees, however, remained until 1973 when they were abolished by the Whitlam Labor government, on the basis that the near-universality of television and radio services meant that public funding was a fairer method of providing revenue for government-owned radio and television broadcasters.

  Politics and criticism

  The ABC has often, in recent times, been accused of left wing bias by Coalition members of parliament and right-wing commentators such as Andrew Bolt, Piers Akerman, Tim Blair and Gerard Henderson. The panel upheld a small fraction of the lodged complaints, The ABC must express "a full range of views in opinion-based programs and ensure that when an opinion is expressed, it's clearly marked as an opinion."
     A number of former journalists and presenters have moved from positions at the corporation to politics. State and federal Labor MPs Bob Carr, Alan Carpenter,Clare Martin, Mary Delahunty and Maxine McKew, as well as the Liberal Party's Pru Goward and and Eoin Cameron all held, or hold, positions at the ABC. Research undertaken by the broadcaster has indicated that out of a total of 19 former staffers moving into party political positions, 10 have joined the Labor Party, and 9 the Liberal Party. Conservative Liberal Party governments in the 1960s and 1970s attempted to influence the Corporation's political coverage by threatening to reduce funding for its news and current affairs division,. while the Hawke Labor government unsuccessfully proposed to merge it with the Special Broadcasting Service. Past appointments have associated directly with political parties - five of fourteen appointed chairmen have been accused of political affiliation or friendship, include Richard Downing and Ken Myer (both of whom publicly endorsed the Australian Labor Party at the 1972 election
     Soon after coming to office in 1996, the Liberal Party government of John Howard reduced the ABC's operating grants by ten percent. From 2003 it also made several controversial appointments to the ABC Board, including prominent ABC critic Janet Albrechtsen, , Ron Brunton, and Keith Windschuttle. This drew criticism from the Labor Party, Australian Greens, and the Democrats, who saw it as a 'revenge measure' taken against the Corporation.

  Services

  Radio

  The ABC operates 46 local radio stations, in addition to four national networks and international service Radio Australia. In addition, DiG Radio launched on digital platforms in 2002, currently offering three separate stations. ABC Local Radio is the Corporation's flagship radio station in each broadcast area. There are 46 individual stations, each with a similar format consisting of locally-presented light entertainment, talk back, music, sport and interviews, in addition to some national programming such as AM, PM, The World Today, sporting events and Nightlife. ABC Radio National broadcasts over 60 special interest programs per week covering a range of topics that includes music, comedy, book readings, radio dramas, poetry, science, health, the arts, religion, social history and current affairs. ABC NewsRadio is a rolling news service, previously known as the Parliamentary and News Network. The station was originally set up to broadcast Parliament, with the network's news content built around it. PNN was originally set up to relieve other ABC Radio networks from covering Parliament when it was sitting. The station broadcasts news on a 24/7 format with updates on the quarter-hour. Most of its news content is produced by the ABC itself, however many programs are relayed from the BBC World Service, NPR, Deutsche Welle, Radio Netherlands and CNN Radio. ABC Classic FM was the ABC's first FM service. It was originally known simply as "ABC FM", and for a short time "ABC Fine Music". Its format borrowed heavily from community stations that eventually founded the Fine Music Network, as well as BBC Radio 3. Triple J is the national youth radio network, broadcasting contemporary alternative and independent music. While the station play lists music from around the world, it maintains a strong focus on local artists. The station is targeted at young people, aged 18 - 35. Triple J was formerly known as "Double Jay" when it launched in Sydney on January 19, 1975. ABC Radio Australia is an international shortwave, satellite and internet radio service with transmissions aimed at East Asia and the Pacific Islands, although its signals are also audible in many other parts of the world. It features programs in various languages spoken in these regions, including Mandarin, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Khmer and Tok Pisin.
     Radio Australia bulletins are also carried on the World Radio Network, available via satellite in Europe and North America.

  Television

  Within Australia, the ABC operates two channels. ABC1, the Corporation's original television service, receives the bulk of funding for television and shows first-run comedy, drama, documentaries, and news and current affairs. In each state and territory a local news bulletin is shown at 7.00pm nightly. ABC2, launched in 2005, is a digital-only channel that shows repeated programs from ABC1, as well as some original content including news programs, children's shows, animation, and music shows. ABC HD, a high-definition simulcast of ABC1 Sydney, is also available in most areas.
     The Australia Network is an international satellite television service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, funded by advertising and grants from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Aimed at the Asia-Pacific region, the service broadcasts a mixture of English language programming, including general entertainment, sport, and current affairs.

  Online

  An experimental Multimedia Unit was established in 1995, charged with developing policy for the ABC's work in web publishing. In March 2005 the division oversaw the launch of ABC2, a free-to-air digital television channel, in effect a replacement for ABC Kids and Fly.
     In conjunction with the ABC's radio division, New Media and Digital Services implemented the ABC's first podcasts in December 2004. By mid-2006 the ABC had become an international leader in podcasting with over fifty podcast programs delivering hundreds of thousands of downloads per week, including trial video podcasts of The Chaser's War on Everything and jtv.
     In February 2007, the New Media & Digital Services division was dissolved and divided up amongst other areas of the ABC. At the same time, a new Innovations area was created to manage ABC Online and investigate new technologies for the ABC.

  Commercial

  ABC Commercial is the division of the ABC responsible for pursuing new sources of revenue for the Corporation.

  Orchestras

  1935, all content broadcast on the ABC was produced live, including music. For this purpose, the ABC established broadcasting orchestras in each state, and in some centres also employed choruses and dance bands. This became known as the ABC Concert Music Division, which was controlled by the Federal Director of Music - the first of whom was W.G. James . There are currently six state symphony orchestras:
  
• Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
• Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
• Sydney Symphony
• The Queensland Orchestra
• Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
• West Australian Symphony Orchestra