The threat to democracy with a nobbled ABC

Jake Gyllenhaal is Lou Bloom, a nondescript but asocial, mental defective who finds his vocation peddling sleeze and horror to a cable channel. Nothing fazes him, even extortion and murder. He makes himself indispensible to Nina, an unscrupulous, ambitious, news editor played by Rene Russo. No tale is too lurid for Nina. If it bleeds it leads. And the plausible, smooth-talking Lou stops at nothing to get the images that will shock. In this film Lou Bloom gets no come-uppance; he thrives.

So is this the message in 2014?What was once prophetic in movies like Network and Broadcast News is now commonplace. Nightcrawler paints a gruesome picture, of how low the once noble profession of journalism, espoused by Edward Murrow and showcased in Good Night and Good Luck has sunk. George Clooney's film portrays Murrow's exposure of the persecution perpetrated by Senator Joseph McCarthy in his search for the so-called Reds threatening American democracy. It was brave journalism to take McCarthy on. Murrow stood tall when others cowered but ultimately he too was shown the door by CBS because his ideals for news reporting were incompatible with high ratings and the corporate interests of the masters at CBS.

In today's competitive technological age, when the industry is struggling to find its identity and an audience, is it possible to be a TV news reporter and retain your integrity? In the television series Newsroom, Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame has attempted to depict the complexities for contemporary news journalists bound by ethical investigative processes, but competing with the immediacy of social media where anyone can be first with the news. Professional journalists must be sure of their facts before they print or broadcast for the damage from false reports can be catastrophic. Newsroom dramatizes the vulnerability of journalists to legal challenge as laws protecting their sources are no longer guaranteed. And as Assange and Snowden have demonstrated whistle-blowing is a dangerous practice. These issues are good fodder for fiction but they are also genuine.

And this is where the ABC comes in. A democratic society requires a first class, vigorous Fourth Estate. We need news and current affairs programs that are well resourced with competent experienced and fearless journalists who are confident their organization will back them as they pursue the truth for the public who do have a right to know. A public broadcaster must be independent of Government and commercial interests. The ABC has been established to fulfill this role. It is tricky. The institution is under siege, no doubt about that. But we need the ABC.

Newspapers are shrinking in number and substance, their power declining and many fine journalists have lost their jobs. We can't believe what we see on commercial television when their mission is to entertain, win ratings and make profits. Truth is not their prime value. If we get one shred of insight from commercial news that's a bonus.

If we can't trust the news we get from the mass media and we can't trust our politicians where are we headed as a democracy? We do trust the ABC even though they sometimes make mistakes in judgment. If this government is responsible for diminishing the quality of the ABC's news and current affairs programs then we all lose. The public may just get madder than hell and decide we are not going to take it anymore.