Religions and ethics: public broadcasting in Australia

Miss Eagle has been a radio listener since she was brought home from hospital after birth during World War 11.  Don't have much time for commercial radio.  I love public radio.  
In Australia this is the Australian Broadcasting Commission known as the ABC.  I am also a fan of the BBC.  Until a couple of years ago, the ABC used to have a marvellous half-hour program, The Religion Report.  This was a very sharp program which covered religion in a current affairs manner.  It was a a great shame when the powers-that-be-at-the-ABC closed this down.  Nothing has quite taken its place. 

At about the same time, the Religion anf Ethics portal took over from a previous net presence.  The ABC, like the BBC, is remarkable not only for the quality of programming currently produced. It is remarkable for its archival material. 

As a public broadcaster, the ABC covers all manner of spiritual values and faiths under its Religion category.  This means that there is much to explore and some to leave behind like scraps on a plate.  Generally speaking, the religious broadcasts of the ABC enriches me.  In the main, I find it - as often as not - a sound substitute for Sunday sermons of varying quality. 

Below is what is on offer this week. In these wonderful days of the internet, we don't have to rely on shortwave radios. We can live stream media as if it is right next door. So please see this post as your introduction to Australia's ABC. Enjoy!

The sacrifices of war
ABC Religion and Ethics - 11 Nov 10
In his book War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Chris Hedges, a war correspondent, tries to explain why he became so addicted to war that he could not live without being in a war. War had quite simply captured his imagination, making it impossible for him to live "normally." He…
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Seeking asylum in Australia, 1888-2010
ABC Religion and Ethics - 11 Nov 10
The legacies of our past weigh heavily on us. Our attitudes to asylum seekers - those who appear on the horizon, from over the seas, not-white in appearance and uninvited - have deep roots in our formative history as a nation. Indeed such attitudes were constitutive, in a quite l…
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The moral dilemma of asylum seeker policy
ABC Religion and Ethics - 09 Nov 10
On the issue of asylum seekers, I think we have reached a point of crisis. If it were up to me, and if I did not care about the wider political consequences, I would allow all asylum seekers who arrive spontaneously on Australian shores to live in the community after a short peri…
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Rights in conflict: The problem of defamation of religions
ABC Religion and Ethics - 10 Nov 10
The "defamation of religions" issue was first brought to the United Nations' Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in 1999 under the agenda item of "racism." According to Pakistan, members of the OIC were grow…
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This week on ABC TV
Compass - The New Noffs
ABC1 | 14 November 2010
Presented by Geraldine Doogue
The story of Ted Noffs, a maverick Methodist minister, whose groundbreaking work with the young and destitute in 1960s Australia lives on through his son and grandsons. But with one major difference - the Christian message is no longer part of the mission.
More
 
Songs of Praise - Rochester Cathedral
ABC1 | 14 November 2010
Presented by Pam Rhodes
Rochester Cathedral began life in 604 AD as a monastic community. The building, and its treasure trove of historic art and architecture, has been an inspiration to generations of worshippers and visitors.
More
 
This week on ABC Radio
Encounter - The Outsider
ABC Radio National | 14 November 2010
Just because God is dead it does not mean that everything is permitted. Fifty years after his death Nobel laureate, Albert Camus, remains compelling for our time.
Producer: Florence Spurling
Repeated Wednesday 17 November, 7.05pm; and Thursday 18 November, 4.05am
More
 
For The God Who Sings - Cantate Domino
ABC Classic FM | 14 November 2010
Presented by Stephen Watkins
For marvellous things, DeLalande sings a new song, with harp, trumpet and voices.
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Sunday Nights - Compounding Abuse
ABC Local Radio Across Australia | 14 November 2010
Presented by John Cleary
How well is the church dealing with the issue of sexual abuse, not just in acknowledging the victims, but in addressing the structures that facilitate abuse? This week Australia plays host to an international conference which brings together key advocates for reform, and you can join them on Sunday Night with John Cleary.
More
 
The Rhythm Divine - Walls Come Down
ABC Radio National | 12 November 2010
Presented by Geoff Wood
'Something there is that doesn't love a wall'. On the 21st anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we take that line by the poet Robert Frost and run with it, adding glorious noise from Beethoven and Leonard Bernstein, Danish band Slaraffenland, Tamil devotional singer Susheela Raman and the Los Angeles Gospel Choir, all confirming that no matter how imposing they look, walls do come down in the end.
Repeated Sunday 14 November 5.05am
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The Spirit of Things - Aborigines Choosing Islam
ABC Radio National | 14 November 2010
Presented by Rachael Kohn
'Ramiz', who is part Aboriginal and part Afghan, realised he did not 'fit in' and he spent his youth finding alternative paths, until his life hit 'rock bottom'. That was when Islam offered a way out, and he explains how it gave him a sense of 'manhood'. Dr. Peta Stephenson, author of Islam Dreaming: Indigenous Muslims in Australia, has surveyed the phenomenon Aboriginals turning to Islam and explains its varied expressions and motives.
Repeated Tuesday 16 November 1.05pm and Wednesday 17 November 2.05am

TIKKUN OLAM - Repairing the earth - Healing the earth - starts on radio tonight

My friend Avraham is itting the airwaves to-night on what, I think, is Melbourne's newest radio station, Lion FM 96.1   Here is his programming info:

I am proud to announce that I'll be hosting an hour-long radio program on "Tikkun Olam" (Healing the World) every Tuesday night, 9.00 pm, on the new frequency, Lion FM 96.1, starting TONIGHT - Tuesday 13 July! For now, the frequency can only be heard in the Melbourne area, but eventually Internet-live listening - and podcasts - are hoping to be available.
 
Tonight's show will focus on Indigenous issues, and feature interviews and music dedicated to Yorta Yorta activist William Cooper (1861-1941). Boonerwrung Elder, Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir, will Welcome us To Country (through the medium of radio!), some William Cooper stories from era 1938 will be narrated - and then I will interview Uncle Boydie Turner, of Shepparton, the 81-year-old grandson of William Cooper himself! 
 
Sydney author Lisa Sarzin, who recently co-wrote with her mother Dr Anne Sarzin, Hand-in-Hand, which tells the story of about 80 Jewish and Indigenous Australians working together, will discuss her book, and read a selection from it - and one of the other people featured, Rabbi Chaim Rosenthal, will discuss why in his Orthodox Synagogue he insists on reciting an "Acknowledgement of Country" at every Sabbath service.
 
If all goes to plan (technically - as this radio station is brand new!), music featured will include selections from Indigenous musicians YothaYindiand Kutcha Edwards. Tonight's music was selected by William Cooper's great-grandson, Kevin Russell.
 
The show may be repeated at other times, as the new radio station has not yet received enough volunteers to produce programs 24 hours a day, 6 days a week (it is not producing content for the Jewish Sabbath, resuming broadcasts on Saturday nights). 
 
For further information, please look at the still-developing websitehttp://www.lionfm.org - and please encourage anyone you know who may be interested (in the MELBOURNE AREA) to tune in tonight at 9pm, future Tuesdays, or in fact, 24/6 - to 96.1 fm.  Future shows will discuss a broad range of themes/topics/guests - and I am keen to receive suggestions that fit in to the "Healing the World" mission of this radio program.
 
I'd love to get your feedback on tonight too, as I'm pretty nervous initially on-air!
 
Hope you enjoy! 
A

Related matters:

The Way into Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World

Tikkun Olam Recycle Kids Baseball Jersey

The Jewish Approach to Repairing the World (Tikkun Olam): A Brief Introduction for Christians

Tikkun Olam SATB a cappella

Tikkun Olam

.Tikkun Olam: Social Responsibility in Jewish Thought and Law (Orthodox Forum Series)

Hand in Hand: Jewish and Indigenous people working together

The Yorta Yorta (Bangerang) language of the Murray Goulburn: Including Yabula Yabula (Pacific linguistics, Series C)

Australian Dictionary of Biography - William Cooper

One blood: the story of William Cooper

A reprieve for specialist religious broadcasting at RN?

Readers of Desert will recall a series of posts regarding new programming at the ABC's Radio National in 2009 which would result in the axing of the Religion Report. Please see posts here, here and here.

This afternoon Crikey has published the following article:

Glenn Dyer writes:

Is the head of ABC Radio, Sue Howard, about to leave the national broadcaster?

Talk around the ABC is that the Corporation's Managing director, Mark Scott, has decided to find a new head of radio and Ms Howard doesn't fit his view of what's need for the gig.

Michael Mason, the current head of ABC Local radio, Kate Dundas, who has served in various positions in ABC radio is another contender, but a late bloomer is Linda Bracken, who heads up the Triple J Network.

There's talk Ms Howard's future at the ABC would have been clarified late last week, but there was a Radio National function on Friday and then in the Australian's Media section on Monday, Mark Scott was named media person of the year, so an announcement about Ms Howard's future might have been a bit off.

Mr Scott is understood to have been less than impressed with the way the restructuring of some of Radio National's programming next year was handled by the network's management and the management of the division.

Discontent with Howard apparently dates to the bungled decision to reshape Radio National programming, including the rescheduling and abolition of several specialist programs. Management's intentions only came to light after an unauthorised early morning editorial from the Religion Report's Stephen Crittenden in October. The changes might have been the sort of thing of which Mark Scott might approve, but the implementation was a PR disaster for Radio National. 

Calls to ABC Corporate were not returned by deadline.

Crittenden Inquiry

A follow up to the posts below, Stephen Crittenden, has been suspended on full pay pending an inquiry into comments he made last week about the axing of flagship programs on Radio National.

Self defensive and attacking #2

This article is in this afternoon's Crikey

What are they doing to Radio National? God help us!

An extraordinary opening comment by Radio National Religion Report presenter Stephen Crittenden this morning (listen to it here) was the first many ABC listeners will have heard about serious changes to the RN schedule planned for 2009. Former ABC religious broadcaster Paul Collins takes up the tale:

Words tell you everything. When you hear "interdisciplinary" you know it means "dumbing down" and "consumer focused" always refers to the lowest common denominator. This is precisely the rhetoric used yesterday by ABC Radio National management to describe their intentions for RN programming next year.

Several specialist programs are being taken off-air including the Religion Report, the Media Report and Radio Eye. The Reports are flagship programs that deal with issues central to current culture. Apparently they are being replaced by a movie show and something about the future. Specialist broadcasters will spend more time responding to opinionated bloggers rather than making programs. God help us!

Let's be clear what ABC Radio management is up to: it is a case of the bland leading the bland. Specialisation is out. Nowadays the belief is that any old (or, more likely, young) "interdisciplinary" journalist can deal with any topic. Well, I've been interviewed literally hundreds of times on ABC radio and TV. My experience is that while most journalists make a reasonable go of it, they just don't know the detail and often have to be led to the key questions.

Take religion for example. There are no more than half a dozen specialist religious journalists in Australia. Two work for Fairfax (Linda Morris and Barney Zwartz) and the rest for the ABC which has had a religion department since the beginning of the Corporation. Stephen Crittenden, John Cleary and Rachael Kohn are able to cover a complex spectrum of beliefs, practices and theologies from a wide cross-section of traditions precisely because they are specialists.

Nowadays religion is a mainstream political, cultural and socio-economic issue with enormous impact on world affairs. To cover it adequately you need specialists. That is precisely what Stephen Crittenden has done on the Religion Report. He knows what the issues are and where the bodies are buried. Sure, he's upset some powerful people, but that's the nature of a free media.

I'm not paranoid. I don’t see this as an attack on religion. It's more a lack of appreciation of specialization, derived from the half-witted, post-modern conviction that everyone can do anything. Sure, they can ask a few prosaic, "man-in-the-street" questions. But that's not the task of Radio National. If you think it is, get a job with the commercials.

We need to be clear where this is leading. It effectively spells the end of religion as a specialization in the ABC. If you only have a couple of minor, essentially life-style programs on air you don't need people who know their stuff. All you need is an 'interdisciplinary, consumer-focused' approach, produced by the type of journalist who doesn’t know the difference between an Anglo-Catholic and an Evangelical!

Paul Collins is a former specialist editor (religion) for the ABC

Self defensive and attacking

It was only on Monday that I explained how I try to keep this blog's focus on resources for Desert Spirituality. To-day, I am defending and attacking all at once in defence of one of the great religious resources, The Religion Report on Australia's public broadcasting icon, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and its presenter Stephen Crittenden.

The Religion Report is first broadcast on Wednesday morning's at 8.30am. Each morning on Radio National there is an 8.30am to 9.00am timeslot allocated as follows:

Monday..................The Health Report

Tuesday..............The Law Report

Wednesday...............The Religion Report

Thursday...............The Media Report

Friday.....................The Sports Factor

This morning Stephen had a spray at the beginning of The Religion Report and he has sent me what he said:

This week the new line-up of Radio National programs for 2009 was announced.

The Religion Report has been de-commissioned, along with The Media Report, The Sports Factor, The Ark, Perspective, In Conversation, Street Stories and Radio Eye. These programs are going in order to make room for (quote) 'more inter-disciplinary work on the network', and the 8.30 timeslot is being remodelled to give it (quote) 'more consumer focus'.

The decision to axe one of this network's most distinctive and important programs has been
approved by the Director of ABC Radio, Sue Howard, and it will condemn Radio National to even greater irrelevance.

The ABC's specialist units have been under attack for years, but the decapitation of the flagship program of the Religion Department effectively spells the death of Religion at the ABC. That
such a decision has been taken in an era when Religion vies with Economics as a determinant of everything that is going on in the world almost beggars belief - but you have to remember that just a couple of years ago they axed the Environment program.

The Religion Report has always been fearless - and I don't have to tell you that it has put many powerful noses out of joint. This is a signal to the churches that the ABC has decided to vacate the field. If you care about this program and what it represents, I suggest that you might
consider writing to the ABC Board or the Managing Director, Mark Scott.

I set out below my letter to everyone on my email lists this morning:

Dear One and All,

The Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) is a national treasure and an international icon of public broadcasting - although our politicians of the right and left don't appear to regard it as so with their stacking of boards and miserliness with funding.

One of the great pleasures in my life is listening to the ABC's Radio National. If you don't listen to Radio National, don't bother reading further because this is all about trying to save some of Australia's most respected broadcasters and programs at Radio National from getting the axe. To outline this, Stephen Crittenden of The Religion Report has sent me a copy of his statement read at the commencement of TRR this morning. Read it below.

Stephen's spray outlines the proposed "re-modelling" of the 8.30am timeslot but makes no mention of either The Health Report or The Law Report. If they survive in one form or another, will this be because doctors and lawyers have more influence with RN than the rest of us?

The religion programs - which along with Radio Eye are my favourites - are The Religion Report hosted by Stephen Crittenden and The Ark hosted by Rachel Kohn. I would be surprised if there was a better religion journalist/presenter anywhere than Stephen. I have no idea of Stephen's faith perspective - he could be a religion literate atheist for all I know - but his conversation is intelligent, subject literate, perspicacious and insightful. Rachel Kohn is a most distinguished religious presented with great expertise in comparative religion.

The Religion Report covers a wide range of territory - but I think it would not be untrue to say that not all subjects of discussion on The Religion Report would have welcomed TRR reports of their doings. I can think of the Exclusive Brethren and Steiner education to begin with.

Australia has a long and proud tradition of secularism and long may it be so. However, in recent years, there have been clear displays of secular bigotry against individuals in particular and religion in general. Could the axing of TRR be another scalp of secularists who neither understand nor give a fig for the topic of religion?

Australia has a diverse population - and many of our immigrant communities come from old faith traditions which are continued in this country. TRR helps to give a voice to these traditions and to make those traditions known to the broader Australian community. Losing this voice will not only leave us poorer but also also take away from us a vital tool in overcoming our ignorance.

Religious adversaries have brought suspicion, violence and war to the earth in recent years. Australian politics, which were long largely religion free, have now been penetrated with modern political tools by a range of religions. Who will explain this to us if not The Religion Report under the clear and precise dissection of Stephen Crittenden?

Stephen has asked us to write to the ABC Board or the Managing Director, Mark Scott. I would also suggest that we write to the Federal leaders of political parties from the Prime Minister down. The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are both known as men of faith - the former an Anglican and the latter a Catholic. I believe it is important that we make ourselves and our views known to them - for the sake of public broadcasting in this country and, in particular, the reporting of religion.Please let me know what you think and - importantly - what it is that you do.

So, Dear Reader, could you please do your bit to keep Australia's major religious communications resource on air and in the public domain. Please note for your records that the protocol for emails at the ABC is lastname.firstname@abc.net.au. Therefore......

Managing Director - Mark Scott .............. scott.mark@abc.net.au
Chair of the Board - Maurice Newman.... newman.maurice@abc.net.au
Board Members
Janet Albrechtsen .................................... albrechtsen.janet@abc.net.au
Steven Skala ............................................. skala.steven@abc.net.au
Peter Hurley ............................................. hurley.peter@abc.net.au
Keith Windschuttle .................................. windschuttle@abc.net.au
Director of ABC Radio - Sue Howard .... howard.sue@abc.net.au
Stephen Crittenden ................................. crittenden.stephen@abc.net.au

It goes without saying...

prayers and miracles are a welcome priority

BTW, the wonderful collection that makes up the Board of Australia's national broadcaster is the result of appointments made by the previous (conservative) Australian government. The current government bears no responsibility for that.

And, dear Reader, after all that, if you still have questions or need assistance for your lobbying, please let me know and I will try to find solutions.