ABC managing director Mark Scott has gone on the attack over a column in The Australian by Mark Day, which raised the idea of the corporation being sold off.

It is the latest salvo in a war of words between Mr Scott and the News Limited organisation over the changing role of the ABC.

Mr Day used the recently announced BBC rollback to raise the argument that in the new media age the ABC should look to do the same.

"The news that the BBC is to scale back its operations and ease its competitive stance against its commercial rivals prompts the immediate question: should the ABC do the same?" he wrote.

In a piece for ABC News Online's The Drum, Mr Scott hit back at the column, defending the public broadcaster's role in the Australian media landscape.

"About 90 per cent of the population believe the ABC is providing a valuable service, delivering on its charter to inform, educate and entertain," he wrote.

"Australia has been richly served by a dual system of public broadcasting working alongside commercial media."

Central to Mr Day's column was the argument that the ABC's role was to fill niches commercial outlets did not cover.

"It is time we had a full debate about the role of the ABC. It was established in a vastly different media landscape as a taxpayer-funded entity designed to, in part, fill in the market niches not served by the commercial sector," he wrote.

"Now, thanks to pay-TV and the digital revolution, those niches are hotly contested."

But Mr Scott rejects this claim, maintaining the corporation has always played a central role in broadcasting in Australia.

"There is a concerted attempt to portray the ABC's role in the media as solely that of a niche provider - participating only in sections of the market not served by the commercial sector," he said.

"There's nothing new in the ABC being in the competition for public attention - its role has never been to simply provide programs that commercial media have rejected."

'Act of negligence'

He says any such arguments are motivated by organisations struggling with the demands of the 21st century media environment.

"Threatened by the pace of change, the inflexibility of their own business models and their reluctance to invest, the critics now demand that the ABC pull back," he wrote.

"The audience doesn't seem to feature in these arguments and the blatantly commercial agendas on display simply reinforce the need for a strong independent media voice."

He also highlighted the performance of US media companies, which operate without state-run competitors, to rebut arguments the ABC should bow out to aid struggling organisations.

"Mr Day's assertion that the ABC should be weakened or destroyed to prevent it causing 'havoc' among commercial rivals, ignores the fact that the US is the media sector where 'legacy' companies are most at threat - and the US does not have a major television public broadcaster like the ABC or the BBC." he wrote.

"How reckless would it be for Australia to stop funding a credible independent news service to somehow prop up business models that may continue to struggle in any event? It would be an act of negligence and Australia's news media and public discourse would be all the poorer for it."

Mr Scott said it was important the ABC provide a voice that was not governed by commercial interests.

"We are not simply driven by decisions about whether we can make money out of our investment in news, Australian content and specialist programming. In fact, making money doesn't come into our thinking at all," he said.

"We are about fulfilling our charter and delivering for audiences."