[ad_1]
“The cover has always highlighted incredible stories not only of Australians but also of human achievement around the world. It is a national disgrace,†he said.
Retired sports journalist Peter Wilkins, who worked at the ABC for 37 years, said it was “a total disgrace”.
“No respect for Australia’s history, tradition or cultural attachment to the sport. Your ABC? “
Canberra-based commentator Julian Abbott called it a “very sad state of affairs” and noted that the Tokyo Olympics would be held in Australia’s time zone.
ABC buys the radio rights for the official Olympics broadcaster Seven, but sources said the 16 days of competition were the biggest cost. In previous Olympics, the ABC sent a small team of commentators to the host country, supported by a larger team based in Australia. The budget for the blanket is likely to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The decision to end live coverage comes as the broadcaster, which has a budget of just over $ 1 billion a year, grapples with a three-year funding freeze that will cost the organization $ 84 million in total. The freeze is worth $ 15 million in 2019-2020, $ 28 million in 2020-2021 and $ 41 million in 2021-2022. The ABC has also absorbed $ 254 million in cuts since 2014.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the announcement “will undoubtedly surprise and disappoint many Australians”.
“Under its legislation, editorial and content decisions are made by the board of directors and management of the ABC, and it is up to the ABC to explain why it made this decision,” he said. he declares.
[ad_2]
Comments are closed.