ABC right on message (most of the time)
Ali Moore
(Photo: ABC)
Following Malcolm Turnbull’s election as Liberal leader on Tuesday, ABC Radio 774 Melbourne stayed on message – its message and what also became Labor’s message – throughout the morning. Well, for most of the morning:
09:48 ALI MOORE (to Jim Middleton): The other issue that will face Malcolm Turnbull, of course, is one reflected in a text message I’ve just got and that is, “another silvertail”. How is he going to work to eliminate that impression that some have of him?
10:24 ALI MOORE (to Andrew Robb): …he’s also seen by some as a silvertail, arrogant, someone who comes from wealth and privilege ….
10:52 ALI MOORE (to Barrie Cassidy): And what about the fact that both he and indeed Julie Bishop at the very outset addressed the issue that some perceive him as a silvertail. He talked within his first two minutes about how he doesn’t come from a lifetime of privilege.
Even Francis Macnab, the Uniting Church minister who wandered into the ABC studio to discuss his current pet project (removing the 10 Commandments from the forefont of Christian teaching), was forced by Moore to address the silvertail issue:
10:54 ALI MOORE: You deal with people who are in difficulties, financial difficulties often. You’re very familiar with them. When you hear the words of Malcolm Turnbull say he doesn’t come from a background of privilege and that he is there to lead for all, what do you think?
ABC 774 Melbourne didn’t think Kevin Rudd’s wealth was worth mentioning in news reports when he was elected leader of the Labor Party in 2006. But personal wealth became relevant when Malcolm Turnbull won the Liberal Party leadership:
11:00 ABC NEWSREADER: … Mr Turnbull is a multi-millionaire, but says he didn’t come to this job from a lifetime of privilege.
After the 11.00 am news report, Andrew Pegler, editor of The Bugle, joined Ali Moore to co-host the Conversation Hour. He started out on message:
ANDREW PEGLER: Obviously Turnbull has come out there straight away and knocked the silvertail thing on the head because the first perceptions that the Australian public will have is, you know, this guy is this kind of isolated, rich, distant type of guy.
But then he went off message:
ANDREW PEGLER: But the reality is his story’s pretty good”¦..
So Ali cut in and tried to bring him back on message:
ALI MOORE: That was very interesting that the first thing he did within two minutes of standing up he said, “Ã don’t come to the position from a lifetime of privilege. I know what it’s like to be short of money. I’ve lived in rented flats, you know, I’ve had a single parent.” And, in fact, just before Malcolm Turnbull stood up, we spoke to Andrew Robb. He made exactly the same point…
But Andrew Robb was only responding to you, Ali. You raised the issue. You put it to Robb that Malcolm Turnbull is “seen by some as a silvertail, arrogant, someone who comes from wealth and privilege.”
Meanwhile, Andrew Pegler, stayed off message:
ANDREW PEGLER: But his story is compelling and I think it’ll come out as such, and I think he’s going to give the Rudd Government a run for their money. Look, he literally did come from fairly challenging circumstances. I’d be interested to find out a little bit more about his father. I don’t know anything about what”¦
So Ali had to cut in again and try to get him back on message. But, in the process, Ali strayed off-message:
ALI MOORE: I have to say I don’t know about his background. Andrew Robb was telling us that he lived in rented accommodation in Wentworth, which is where his current seat is, with his father, so I don’t know what his particular family circumstances are, but the point being that Andrew Robb was making is that he is a self-made man.
And Andrew went on delivering his own message:
ANDREW PEGLER: Yes, and he was, you know, a visionary type of guy. I mean, if you look at the early days of the Internet he was there with, I think it was Ozemail and he was doing all sorts of things at a time when people were going, you know, the Inter what? And the World Wide where? He does have a sense for what’s going to happen and develop, and I think even if the fact that he jumped straight into the environmental portfolio indicated that he very much was on the cutting edge of where this sort of zeitgeist in this community was going”¦
So Ali Moore tried a different message:
ALI MOORE: Look, one interesting thing out of what Malcolm Turnbull said today in his press conference is, when he was addressing the silvertail issue, and he says, “I know what it’s like to be short of money. I know what it’s like to live in rented flats.” I’ve had numerous text messages here from people saying, “Well, what’s wrong with living in rented flats? My friend lives in rented accommodation and owns 12 houses.” I must say, I live in rented accommodation and I’m fully employed … I mean, I wonder, that was, I suppose, a curious thing to say, “rented flats”. What’s wrong with a rented flat?
Andrew tried to sum up the message:
ANDREW PEGLER: Well, I guess the overall message is, and most people won’t be poring over the detail like we are, they’ll just be, the takeaway message will be, Oh, yeah, he came from struggle street and that’ll be about it.
At which point, Ali Moore broke into a kind of Cockney accent, went off message and agreed with Pegler:
ALI MOORE: He’s a battler like us.
One could visualise the program producer snapping his or her pencil. Oh well, even the ABC, it seems, can stay on message most of the time, but not always all of the time.
Read the transcript of the segment.
