grodscorp@grods.comABC commercial agreements?
 | Posted by The Editor on Wednesday 11 June 2008, 8:34 am Categories: Television Tags: Tags: ABC, CommercialAgreements, TheCookAndTheChef |
I often catch the last ten or fifteen minutes of ABC TV’s The Cook And The Chef as I wait for the news to start and a couple of weeks ago a line in the credits caught my eye.
From: The Editor
To: The Cook And The Chef
Subject: Apparent commercial agreementHi,
I was wondering how the following credit (paraphrased) is in line with the ABC’s non-commercial guidelines?
“The ABC acknowledges free or discounted products from the following companies”
Regards,
The Editor
To the credit of the program producer and the ABC I received a prompt and thorough reply.
From: The Cook And The Chef
To: The Editor
Subject: Re: Apparent commercial agreementDear Ed,
This is a very good question and an area that the ABC is very careful
about. The issue is here that we can take advantage of these offers
provided that there is no obligation imposed on or accepted by the ABC
or its staff, to structure a broadcast in any way or to present any
matter with a particular editorial perspective. When there is an issue
like this, we have a set of Editorial guidelines to which we have to
adhere so that before accepting anything we have to demonstrate that the
ABC’s independence and integrity are fully protected. The Director of
TV then signs off after this process if the issue meets all the
benchmarks.
This only applies to general programs, News and Curret (sic) Affairs programs
will not accept these offers.Regards,
The Cook and The Chef
Fair enough. It sounds like everything’s in line with ABC policy but something still niggles at me. I’m genuinely torn on this issue because on the one hand I’ve got no problem with a bit of contra on non-news and current affairs programs — especially given the broadcaster’s meagre budget; but on the other hand it flies in the face of the ABC’s non-commercial nature.
Discuss.
GrodsThink Ep.31 (16/9/08)
