The ABC is spending $360,000 a year to buy up search terms to lift its Google rankings. That is using taxpayers' money to destroy commerical rivals who must sell the news that the ABC gives out free. The ABC is too big and biased for a democracy.
The ABC’s managing director Michelle Guthrie has admitted the public broadcaster is spending $360,000 a year of taxpayer dollars buying up search terms to lift its Google rankings...
(M)ore than a quarter of a million a year spent knowingly crippling its commercial media rivals, who have to compete for subscriptions and advertising dollars to survive by paying to lure readers to its own websites...
Aunty’s funding increased from $865,540 million in 2008 to $991,963 million in 2011 to $1.02 billion in 2014 to $1.04 billion this year — and is projected to rise to $1.07 billion in 2019...
Its funding has only ever grown.
And so, the public broadcaster towers in the Australian media landscape like a lazy giant, while other media stables have to fight and innovate...
(I)t’s tough to ask people to pay for news online when the ABC is giving it away for free.
There has been little focus on the ABC online, which ... reports on news that has originated in other media outlets, and then drives consumers away ... from private businesses like News Corp and Fairfax, Yahoo and Ninemsn...
There’s a strong argument that the ABC should not have an online site at all...
The ABC’s charter stipulates it must “take account of the broadcasting services provided by the commercial and community sectors of the Australian broadcasting system.”
This is not happening...
The Turnbull government needs to step up and take action.
But it won't. Turnbull needs the ABC to back him, especially if - or when - his leadership is threatened.
