The Slap author Christos Tsiolkas has written to the ABC Board objecting to proposed changes to Radio National’s Book Show. He says “a stand-alone literary show is vital to the health of literary culture here in Australia.” In reply to Tsiolkas, Radio National Manager Michael Mason says the new “Books and Arts program (working title only) will not diminish the importance of books in the programming mix.” He also addresses the rumour that the program will only look at fiction. Read both letters in full in this radioinfo report.
Most changes at Radio National are controversial and full of lobbying. While the RN audience may be small, it is vocal and highly influential. In a time honoured tradition, ABC staff wanting to scuttle change usually play their cards in the public arena through proxies, which is what is happening now. Other tactics routinely employed include invoking the union or having a quiet chat with a politician who can put on pressure in the parliamentary chamber. And if all else fails, the accusation of being Sydney centric is levelled from other states, particularly Melbourne. The Book Show is produced in Melbourne.
Another factor in the mix in this current debate is that Book Show presenter Ramona Koval was controversially ditched as the ABC’s staff elected director by Maurice Newman and the previous Liberal Government. With the retirement of Newman imminent, and a Labor government now in power, the “Staff Elected Director in Exile” card could also be played in this game of strategy between management and staff.
The best outlet for any angst over the proposed changes is The Australian newspaper, which is currently taking an anti-ABC editorial line. As a national broadcaster, funded by federal tax money, the ABC is also always a good story for a newspaper with a national brief, especially one owned by Rupert Murdoch.
In our related article, citing The Australian’s Amanda Meade, one of our readers wrote a detailed counter-commentary on Meade’s commentary. In it he made the point that the oft-maligned, depersonalised ABC “management” is made up of experienced program makers, not bureaucrats who have never made a program.
Read the exchange between the famous author and the manager below.
To: Board of the ABC
Re: Proposed changes to the ABC Radio National The Book Show
I am writing to make clear my strong dismay at the proposed changes envisioned for the ABC’s Radio National The Book Show. I believe a stand-alone literary show is vital to the health of literary culture here in Australia. Both as a listener to the ABC and as a writer here in Australia, I am well aware of the terrific job The Book Show does not only in promoting literary culture but in being part of the conversations and arguments about what our literary culture is: who are we talking to, what are we talking about, what is our relationship to the international literary culture, what should we be talking about? I know that a hybrid arts/books/culture show can in no way sustain that kind of engagement.
You must all realise that there is a lot of good will that programmes like The Book Show have developed between writers and the ABC. I think there is also a fierce loyalty writers have to the ABC because the arts programmes champion, defend and, just as importantly, challenge literary cultures . By any meaningful definition of what a public broadcasting cultural program should be, The Book Show is a success: in terms of allowing a space for writers, critics, academics, publishers and readers to engage; through keeping conversations, arguments and debates about books vital and on-going; in acknowledging the worth of work across genres; in speaking to and for and about the audience that buys books, reads books, discusses books. Just like us writers, you will find that those listeners are also fiercely loyal to the show. (I should note too that if one of the changes I have heard mooted is correct – that of splitting fiction and non-fiction across programmes – then the changes don’t even make sense. Recent debates in literature have raged over the slippages between fiction and non-fiction, between what is memoir and what is imagination. Again, The Book Show is one of the spaces in Australia where those debates and arguments have occurred.)
There is also such a deep reservoir of good will between us writers and Ramona Koval, between us writers and all of the staff of The Book Show. It is there because the programme has supported us from the beginning of our careers as writers. We are not only called to come on when we are “bestsellers” or “names”. This is why the programme still remains vital. We have seen the commitment of the staff when it comes to reporting from writers’ festivals, from forums and from workshops. That good will too is now also in jeopardy. I will give you a concrete example of how that might affect my relationship with the ABC in the future. I have been happy, in the past, to be invited along and engage in debate and conversation on The Book Show and to do it when I don’t have a new book to promote. I have been happy to do that because I have faith in the commitment to literature on behalf of The Book Show staff, and because I see such involvement as crucial for a dynamic literary culture in Australia. In light of the new changes, I don’t feel that urgency any longer.
I am a writer in my mid-forties. Growing up in the era I did, I turned to the ABC for cultural inspiration and challenge. Younger generations don’t feel that loyalty to the ABC, I understand that. But you don’t chase that kind of loyalty through destroying all that is positive about the organisation. In my experience, young people are smart enough to name it when they smell hypocrisy. Sure, create alternatives to The Book Show, but it isn’t – and shouldn’t be – an either/or situation. What is happening now risks losing the audience and goodwill you already have and confirming the suspicions and low expectations of an audience the ABC claims it wants to foster.
The proposed changes are a dumbing-down, we all know it, regardless of the double-speak, evasions and weasel words being used to cloak it.
Christos Tsiolkas
In response. Michael Mason wrote:
Dear Christos
Thank you for your email about The Book Show. I believe you’re writing in response to recent press coverage which carried a number of inaccuracies and didn’t present the full picture of what has been proposed.
Our new Books and Arts program (working title only) will not diminish the importance of books in our programming mix. Importantly, across the week there will be no decrease in our commitment to books in the 10am-11am slot. This is because we have increased the length of the program to cover the full hour. Listener feedback and audience research has shown that the current First Person reading at 10.45am is not the best use of airtime within that hour. We believe with this additional airtime there is room in the hour to cover key specialist arts stories or issues of the moment which will be of interest to listeners engaged in the broader cultural life of the nation.
To answer your question, it isn’t true that the program will only look at fiction. The brief for the proposed new program will focus on fiction, memoirs, literary criticism and publishing news. We want to continue our analysis and debate around identity, memory and story and our focus on memoir will enable us to do this. However, we do want to refocus the program on to fiction. You mention that most books sold in this country are non-fiction. It is also generally easier for non-fiction releases to get traction across Australian media, while fiction has long suffered through a lack of coverage. We are seeking to address this imbalance. We want to reinvigorate the interest in fiction, so that the voices of fiction writers can be better heard.
Non-fiction content is covered comprehensively on a range of programs across the network such as Late Night Live, Life Matters, Breakfast and Saturday Extra. Additionally, we are also proposing to enhance our Book Readings to bring listeners more contemporary releases to listen to and the draft schedule now places the Book Reading in the morning (separate to the new program.)
On Saturday nights, we are proposing that a new Books+ program (again working title) will cover fiction and non-fiction as well as publishing industry news as part of its arts journalism focus. We’re also proposing to broadcast an omnibus of the week’s book readings as we know listeners often miss one or two and believe that people will relish a quiet time for a more complete reading.
ABC Radio National provides more coverage of books and writing than any other Australian media outlet. This commitment continues strongly across the 2012 schedule. Conversations with writers, discussions, talks by authors, a dedicated poetry program, Australian drama, book readings and extensive coverage of writer’s festivals remain key elements of ABC Radio National’s offering to audiences.
Writers discuss their work across the day in many of our daily programs from segments like Life Matters’ discussion with you about The Slap, through to Radio National Breakfast, and in depth interviews with Phillip Adams on Late Night Live (repeated weekday afternoons) which regularly features the best non-fiction writers; recently published works of non-fiction are frequently the inspiration for specialist feature programming in areas as diverse as history, religion and science.
The expansion of Big Ideas (to four nights per week) in the new draft schedule will also create more opportunities to hear the very best of Australian and international writers talk about their work and engage with Radio National presenters – and audiences.
I’m sorry that you feel that our proposed changes signal the ‘dumbing down’ of Radio National. The new draft schedule in fact increases the number of original specialist programs across more genres. We are aiming to decrease the number of repeats, a frequent complaint from listeners, in the current schedule. In making changes to our programming mix, we are attempting to ‘open up’ Radio National, to reach more smart, thinking Australians interested in ideas and thought-provoking analysis of current events. We are not interested in chasing a mass audience. We are not interested in changing the core elements that make us unique in the Australian media landscape. We are looking to bring more people to the RN conversation.
At RN, we’re interested in bringing debates and conversations about literature into wider cultural and artistic debates. Our Books and Arts program will reflect on cultural ideas and practices in an informed and engaging way, with a particular emphasis on new developments, emerging artists and Australia’s cultural diversity. It will take an active and leading role in debates around arts, culture and writing in Australia and internationally. I’m sorry that you feel that you may no longer be a part of such discussion, but I’d like to assure you that commitment, dedication and knowledge is a hallmark of production teams across RN, and will also be a hallmark of the new Books and Arts program. We’ve received good feedback about our proposed changes from publishers and festival organisers around the country, and expect that the working relationship we have with them, and (more importantly) the authors they work with, continues.
We know that books are an important part of our listeners’ lives, and we cater to this interest in many of our other programs, with many interviews and stories on the latest book releases across the schedule. The current management team have in fact increased the coverage given to books and writing. The network is deeply committed to the coverage of literature, giving over regular weekend programming to broadcast the Sydney, Brisbane and upcoming Adelaide Writers’ Festivals in addition to the literary coverage in the regular schedule. Last year we also created a pop-up digital radio station entirely devoted to a writers’ festival.
We’re proud to say that no one covers books like Radio National, and we’re gratified that writers of your stature want to engage with us about our programming mix. Thanks for your feedback, and I hope that on listening to Radio National next year, you feel that you can still turn to us for inspiration, challenge and debate.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Mason
Manager Radio National & Group PD, ABC Radio
Expect more on this debate as the deadline for RN schedue changes draws closer.
Meanwhile, Community Radio is staking out its Arts credentials by emphasising the programs it does in this area. A recent article in Arts Hub says:
“Though our national broadcaster has apparently decided to relegate the arts to the ‘too hard’ basket, Australians seeking in-depth coverage of cultural issues should not despair. The nation’s network of community radio stations have long championed the arts, with dedicated volunteer broadcasters across the country providing hours of new arts content every week.”