Letter to the Editor:
Point of clarification to Amanda Meade's otherwise fine article on the conference on the ABC (Bias questions at ABC talkfest, Media, 5/4). While Quentin Dempster was a last minute addition as a speaker, it was always the intention to have a speaker from insider the ABC. Ian Henschke, the staff-elected Director and Tom Morton (former producer of Background Briefing) were going to be speakers. Both were prevented by family reasons. Stephen Crittenden (ABC Religious Affairs) was to replace Tom Morton, but schedule changes meant he could not. Kirsten Garrett and Geraldine Doogue politely declined due to other commitments.
Kerry O'Brien was also invited.
Richard Fidler, who was due to speak, was prevented by last-minute re-scheduling of the shooting of his latest programme.
Regarding the Brent Cunningham article on the New York domination of US Media (Power of the Manhattan pack, Media, 5/4), Australia has a similar problem with Sydney. With our conference on the ABC, we had a choice of Melbourne, and having a larger attendance, or Sydney, and getting media coverage. We chose the latter option.
The resultant media coverage suggests it was the correct decision. That we faced the choice suggests that the concentration of media in Sydney (one-third of Australian journalists work in Sydney) is a problem.
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