Transmission interrupted: Australia’s international television broadcasting

ABSTRACT

Australia’s efforts to pursue public diplomacy through a government-funded international television service have been sporadic and ineffectual. The reasons for failure lie in the way such efforts have been pawns in other political conflicts and relationships – conflicts between Coalition governments and the ABC; conflicts between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard that dominated the Labor government from 2010 onwards; and the wish of key players in both major parties to please Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. The Abbott Government’s 2014 axing of the ten-year contract with Australian Television slashed Australia’s international broadcasting capacity. Domestic agendas have repeatedly trumped what should be a tool of international policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Australia
• ABC
• international broadcasting
• radio Australia
• Australia television

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Graeme Dobell, Jemima Garrett, Geoff Heriot and Mark Scott for discussions of these issues and feedback on an earlier draft.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Notes on contributors

Rodney Tiffen

Rodney Tiffen is Emeritus Professor in Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. He has written widely on media and politics. His latest (co-authored) book is How America Compares (2020).