Hugh Marks slams ‘opportunistic’ attacks on ABC – but admits broadcaster screwed up with Bluey

ABC chief executive Hugh Marks has criticized the attacks on the ABC as “opportunistic” as it faces accusations that the Four Corners program distorted a speech by Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, but he said lessons can be learned from the BBC’s mistake.

The ABC has faced pressure from Sky News Australia and The Australian who have called the treatment of the speech in a Four Corners episode an “almost identical act of deceit” as the editing of a BBC program that led to several high-level dismissals at the British public broadcaster.

Marks told the National Press Club on Wednesday that the criticism was not legitimate.

“I think the ABC comparison[’s] Four Corners for the BBC Panorama show was opportunistic. The same errors were not consistent in both programs. I didn’t accept that this was a legitimate criticism. I thought it was opportunistic and false,” he said.

Marks also admitted that ABC had missed an opportunity to make money with the Bluey franchise.

The popular children’s show was a joint production between ABC and BBC, but the British broadcaster makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year from licensing and merchandising, which ABC does not do.

Marks, who has a commercial background, said the ABC owed it to taxpayers to look at different models to avoid the same fate in the future.

“The BBC is probably making $300 million a year from a property that was a joint BBC-ABC production, but we should have been more active in participating in what that became… It’s incredible and probably the biggest show in the world. Yes, it’s a missed opportunity. But it happened… Let’s not make the same mistake again.”

Reflecting on the BBC Panorama mistake, the director said there are lessons to be learned, but noted the ABC’s structure is more independent, allowing it to remain impartial.

“When I look at the BBC – and I see a lot of the commentary that’s being made about what happened to them, not just in the last event, but over time – you see that there are things that have eroded that independence,” he said.

“[At the ABC] there is an independent board and the director is again independent of the board. All of these different elements, when they work well, really provide the framework for me to allow our people to do their best work. Without fear [and] second suspicion [of] ‘Am I doing the right thing, am I treating the right interests, am I getting the politics right?’ To maintain accuracy and impartiality.”

On Wednesday, Marks said another lesson to learn from the BBC’s mistake is to acknowledge its mistakes and move on from a “defensive” stance the ABC has developed over the decades.

“We shouldn’t cower, but we can’t be defensive if we make a mistake, heed that. It’s not difficult,” he said.

“When I arrived at the ABC, there was a defense mentality … The organization was afraid of external forces, and I think that fear creates counterproductive behavior, which means we have to respond to that at all times.”

Marks said he welcomed “reasonable scrutiny of the ABC”, and that there would always be commentary on the broadcaster and its reporting, which is part of the “vibrancy of the media”.

But he said it does impact the organization’s workforce.

“If we see that criticism of us is justified, we have to make sure we respond in the right way. Otherwise, I don’t want everyone to focus on that all the time. That’s wrong. It leads to bad decisions,” he said.

“It’s a struggle, right? Because when something gets written, it hurts. But again, I’ll say, ‘Are you doing a good job? Was the work great? Yes, yes. Stick to that…ignore the noise.'”