The often controversial show is ‘one of the best examples of the ABC acting as a public commons’, she says

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The ABC’s managing director, Michelle Guthrie, has launched a passionate defence of Q&A, saying the “participatory democracy” the program provided was a vital service to the country.

The corporation’s first female chief in 84 years has revealed that in her first three months in the job she has tried to make it to the live recording of Tony Jones’ Q&A every week, spending time both in the control room and in the audience.



“Q&A, with its many moving parts, is a pivotal program for the ABC,” Guthrie said in an address to the Lowy Institute media award dinner in Sydney on Thursday.



“It is here that politicians and thought leaders are held accountable for their actions and policies; where ideas are vigorously debated and where the public is provided a chance to ask probing questions. In full flight, Q&A is one of the best examples of the ABC acting as a public commons, a place for people to converse and interact.”



Guthrie picked up on a theme favoured by her predecessor, Mark Scott, who talked often about the ABC being a town square for the nation.



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Delivering the AN Smith memorial lecture in journalism at the University of Melbourne in 2009, Scott evoked the idea of the ABC being a “community town square”, in a memorable speech which also took aim at media mogul Rupert Murdoch for putting up pay walls around his online content.



Guthrie, a former Singapore-based Google executive, praised the strength of the ABC’s international coverage, saying the broadcaster was spending $13m on 26 correspondents at a time when other media companies have “whittled away their overseas reporting capacity”.



“It is important, also, that in acting as a town square, the ABC does its best to bring international perspectives to its own debates,” she said.



“I was struck at the very first Q&A I visited as managing director by how knowledgeably visiting US writer and another non-resident Lowy fellow, James Fallows, spoke about Australia’s budgetary issues and how he could frame the policy debate in a far broader context.



“It can link continents and through its array of programs delve deep into policy. Hopefully, this contributes to a far more informed domestic audience.”



Guthrie rejected the view that the proliferation of information in the digital age made the ABC obsolete, saying it provided vital context and relevance.



“What the ABC does through its investment in programs like Q&A and its international reporting infrastructure, is provide Australians with a continuous rich flow of information and analysis, explaining the relevance of events and issues,” she said.



Guthrie singled out the recent Four Corners investigation into youth detention, the federal election coverage and the interviews with politicians on Q&A, Insiders, AM, RN Drive and Breakfast, 7.30 and local radio for special praise.



“This is the ABC at its best. Informing, educating and entertaining,” she said.



“Investigations like the searing ‘Australia’s Shame’ put together by Caro Meldrum-Hanna and her team on Four Corners that prove the adage that real news is revealing what someone else is trying to keep secret.



“And, in the ABC’s renowned election pundit, Antony Green, we are seeing the audience eagerly share the ABC’s 25-year investment in knowledge and trust.”

