There has been understandable outrage over Q&A's decision to provide a media platform to an alleged terrorist sympathiser. It even prompted Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull to initiate a government inquiry.
But this wouldn't be necessary if funding was voluntary.
In a blatant attempt at gotcha journalism, the ABC's popular talkfest allowed a convicted criminal, Zaky Mallah, to confront Coalition MP Steve Ciobo.
This week, in an episode devoted to its own decision making, show host Tony Jones issued a partial and inadequate apology. Jones declared that had they been aware of offensive comments Mallah made on social media, they wouldn't have allowed him on the program.
The ABC may have been unaware of Mallah's comments, but he was no ordinary guest.
Q&A's producers knew he had been tried for terrorism charges and pleaded guilty to issuing death threats to Commonwealth officials. At the very least, they ought to have conducted a background check before even considering putting him on live TV.
Any other media provider would have been punished by an audience exodus and the loss of advertising revenue.
But the ABC is not accountable to the general public.
The $1.1 billion in taxpayer funding it receives ironically protects it from public opinion.
A simple solution would be to privatise the ABC and force it to stand on its own two feet. But that is not politically possible.
Despite the obvious existence of alternatives, and clear evidence of bias, no government will risk the public backlash that would come from selling the national broadcaster. Just look at the outrage provoked by a meagre 4.6 per cent cut to the ABC's budget.
Every other media company has had to become leaner and more efficient, but the ABC claimed it would cost the few services that make it unique.
Regional bureaus, state-based current affairs programs and bush-focused radio programs were all placed on the chopping block, despite being the most legitimate functions of the ABC.
The only legitimate justification for a public broadcaster is to provide necessary services that wouldn't otherwise exist. Instead of focusing on improving those services, the ABC has created a media empire that actively reduces choice for Australian consumers.
It has an entire channel devoted to children's entertainment, despite there being many others in the market entertaining kids.
It created a 24-hours news channel, despite Sky News already providing a more cost-efficient and, some would say, superior service. And it's creation of a political fact-checking service put the existing politiFact website out of business. Worst of all, in 2009 it entered the online opinion business with its website, The Drum. That is despite barriers to entry for political opinion websites being almost non-existent.
There is already an extensive proliferation of online opinion sites in Australia, covering a broad range of perspectives. And the number is growing.
In the past few years alone, local offshoots of the Guardian and the Daily Mail have entered the Australian market. Homegrown sites like The New Daily have also been created. This is alongside extensive offering from News Limited and other existing media providers. All those sites have to compete with a lavishly funded ABC, which doesn't have to generate any of its own revenue.
There is a solution to these problems that is both simple and politically possible. Give taxpayers choice. The Abbott Government should make funding the ABC an option provided on tax returns.
That would allow Australia's 11.5 million taxpayers to choose whether the ABC provides value. It wouldn't require the introduction of commercial advertising and, at the current funding levels, funding the ABC would cost taxpayers less than $2 per week. If support is as strong as the ABC claims, then such a move wouldn't have any significant impact on its budget. But it will create a level of accountability that doesn't currently exist.
Far from being a radical proposal, this would be similar to the licence fees which funded ABC TV and radio until it was abolished by the Whitlam government in 1974. A similar, although mandatory TV licence scheme still provides the majority of funding for the world's oldest and biggest public broadcaster, the BBC.
Of the BBC's £5 billion budget, approximately £3.7 billion (74 per cent) comes directly from TV license fees. A further £1 billion comes from the BBC's commercial businesses and only £244 million from other government grants.
If this system works for the BBC, then a much less intrusive scheme would surely work for the ABC. It would give taxpayers choice by letting them simply tick a box on their tax forms
Voluntary taxpayer funding would make the ABC more accountable to the general public and resolve the endless controversies over the editorial decisions on shows such as Q&A.
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