{"id":9726,"date":"2014-05-24T22:13:11","date_gmt":"2014-05-25T02:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=9726"},"modified":"2014-05-24T22:15:15","modified_gmt":"2014-05-25T02:15:15","slug":"budget-cuts-threaten-radio-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/budget-cuts-threaten-radio-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget cuts threaten Radio Australia: how you can help"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/FriendsOfABC.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-9730 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/FriendsOfABC-300x64.png\" alt=\"FriendsOfABC\" width=\"300\" height=\"64\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/FriendsOfABC-300x64.png 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/FriendsOfABC-100x21.png 100w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/FriendsOfABC.png 343w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The <em><a title=\"Friends of the ABC\" href=\"http:\/\/www.abcfriends.org.au\/\" target=\"_blank\">Friends of the ABC<\/a><\/em> have asked for your help\u00a0to\u00a0support\u00a0<em>Radio Australia<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>In short: the <em>ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) <\/em>is trying to cope with a 60% cut in funding resulting from the loss of the <em>Australian Network<\/em> contract.\u00a0There are fears that <em>Radio Australia<\/em> could be cut significantly as a result; after all, the number of Australians listening to <em>Radio Australia<\/em> domestically (either online or via shortwave) is <em>very<\/em> low.<\/p>\n<p>Those of you who followed<a href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/rci-cuts\" target=\"_blank\"> the <em>Canadian Broadcasting Corporation<\/em>&#8216;s cuts in 2012<\/a> will remember that <em>Radio Canada International<\/em> was consequently dealt an <a title=\"RCI\u2019s \u201cradio silence\u201d\" href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rcis-radio-silence\/\">unfair and crippling budget cut<\/a>. I believe the\u00a0<em>Friends of the ABC&#8217;s<\/em> fears are not unfounded.<\/p>\n<p>Below, you&#8217;ll find\u00a0the message from <em>Friends of the ABC<\/em> with contacts to send your letters of support:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ABC-Radio-Australia.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5006\" src=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ABC-Radio-Australia.jpg\" alt=\"ABC-Radio-Australia\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ABC-Radio-Australia.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ABC-Radio-Australia-100x66.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Please take a few moments to write to the Managing Director of the ABC in support of the staff of Radio Australia, who are facing a 60% cut in funding, not by the government directly, but by ABC management!<\/p>\n<p>-Mal Hewitt &#8211; President, Friends of the ABC NSW<\/p>\n<p><strong>Message from Jemima Garrett, Pacific Economic and Business reporter, ABC Radio Australia:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As a long term member of ABC staff I am writing to you now because of a new and urgent threat to Radio Australia. As I am sure you know Radio Australia is a vital service in the Pacific Islands reporting on and covering issues that no other media outlet covers. It has huge audience ratings but is often forgotten in Australia because it is not heard here. The cuts to Australia Network are now set to affect Radio Australia as well. In tough time[s,] radio is an inexpensive and effective way of maintaining our expertise so that we are ready to rise like a phoenix when the political environment improves. It is also able to report on more issues, in more depth and more quickly than TV and therefore is an important source for and method of keeping our online offering as rich and varied as possible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Please send you views to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Managing Director <a href=\"mailto:scott.mark@abc.net.au\" target=\"_blank\">scott.mark@abc.net.au<\/a>,<\/li>\n<li>Director of News <a href=\"mailto:torney.kate@abc.net.au\" target=\"_blank\">torney.kate@abc.net.au<\/a>,<\/li>\n<li>Director of International <a href=\"mailto:marshall.lynley@abc.net.au\" target=\"_blank\">marshall.lynley@abc.net.au<\/a>,<\/li>\n<li>Head of ABC News Content <a title=\"mailto:morris.gaven@abc.net.au\" href=\"morris.gaven@abc.net.au\" target=\"_blank\">morris.gaven@abc.net.au<\/a>,<\/li>\n<li>Editor ABC Asia Pacific News Centre <a href=\"mailto:steele.deborah@abc.net.au\" target=\"_blank\">steele.deborah@abc.net.au<\/a> and<\/li>\n<li>staff elected Director Matt Peacock <a href=\"peacock.matt@abc.net.au\" target=\"_blank\">peacock.matt@abc.net.au<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Background:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>ABC management is looking at how to cope with the budget cuts resulting from the cancellation of the Australia Network contract. This doesn&#8217;t just affect Australia Network but may result in substantial cuts to Radio Australia as the ABC tries to use some of the money it still has for radio to keep some TV programs, contracts in Asia, the mobile and online services connected with Australia Network going too. The scale of the cut is huge &#8211; 60 per cent of our budget has been lost ($21 of $35 million a year). This is for broadcasts to a geographic area ranging French Polynesia in the east to India in the west and FSM and China in the north. (Jemima Garrett, Pacific Economic and Business reporter, ABC Radio Australia)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Friends of the ABC have asked for your help\u00a0to\u00a0support\u00a0Radio Australia. In short: the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) is trying to cope with a 60% cut in funding resulting from the loss of the Australian Network contract.\u00a0There are fears that Radio Australia could be cut significantly as a result; after all, the number of Australians [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,960,3],"tags":[2924,2742,2925,2926],"class_list":["post-9726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadcasters","category-international-broadcasting","category-news","tag-abc-cuts","tag-australian-broadcasting-corporation","tag-friends-of-the-abc","tag-radio-australia-cuts-help-radio-australia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-2wS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10241,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/radio-australia-facing-serious-cuts\/","url_meta":{"origin":9726,"position":0},"title":"Radio Australia facing serious cuts","author":"Thomas","date":"July 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my favorite broadcasters, Radio Australia, is facing severe cuts as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's international broadcasting budget of\u00a0$35 million is being cut in\u00a0more than half. Below, I've copied excerpts from two news sources\u00a0with links. I will post updates with the tag: RA Cuts (Source: The Australian via Richard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ABC-Radio-Australia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ABC-Radio-Australia.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10345,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/the-gutting-of-radio-australia\/","url_meta":{"origin":9726,"position":1},"title":"&#8220;The Gutting of Radio Australia&#8221;","author":"Thomas","date":"July 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Inside Story) We\u2019re sitting on the grass in the village of Matangi on the island of Futuna. This is one of the more isolated communities in Vanuatu, a small group of houses on a small island at the southeastern extreme of the archipelago. \u201cWe rely a lot on Radio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ABC-Radio-Australia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ABC-Radio-Australia.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10277,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/crikey-english-language-staff-may-be-cut-from-radio-australia\/","url_meta":{"origin":9726,"position":2},"title":"Crikey: English language staff may be cut from Radio Australia","author":"Thomas","date":"July 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Phil, who found a little more information about the cuts to\u00a0Radio Australia. He points us to the following quote from the news site, Crikey: \"Around 80 staff will be made redundant from the ABC, the Commonwealth Public Sector Union and an ABC spokesman have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ABC-Logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/ABC-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/ABC-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/ABC-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/ABC-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10285,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/abc-radio-staff-memo-outlines-cuts-to-external-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":9726,"position":3},"title":"ABC Radio staff memo outlines cuts to external service","author":"Thomas","date":"July 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader,\u00a0Jonathan Marks, who has posted a letter by Michael Mason (Acting Director of ABC Radio) to the staff of ABC. Mason's letter outlines changes\u00a0to Radio Australia's external service. His key points: Radio Australia will continue to broadcast a 24\/7 schedule built on a deeper collaboration\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ABC-Radio-Australia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ABC-Radio-Australia.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33525,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/australian-foreign-minister-says-her-party-did-not-support-shutting-down-shortwave\/","url_meta":{"origin":9726,"position":4},"title":"Australian Foreign Minister says her party did not support shutting down shortwave","author":"Thomas","date":"August 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: RadioInfo via William Lee and Dennis Dura) Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has told [ ABC's Radio National ] RN's Fran Kelly that her party did not support the ABC's decision to switch off short wave services in the Pacific. \"It is not a decision of the Australian government,\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Shepparton-10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Shepparton-10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Shepparton-10.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11731,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/cuts-to-radio-australia-shortwave-broadcasts\/","url_meta":{"origin":9726,"position":5},"title":"Cuts to Radio Australia shortwave broadcasts","author":"Thomas","date":"December 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: WRTH Facebook Page via contributor, Mauno Ritola) \"According to information from Radio Australia, there will be a drastic cut to their shortwave\u00a0schedule starting 1st February 2015. Only these transmissions from Shepparton will remain to the Pacific: 2100-0900 UTC on 15240, 15415, and 17840 kHz 0900-2100 UTC on 6080, 6150,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Radio-Australia-Banner","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Radio-Australia-Banner.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}