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'In 2018, a dossier compiled by Michelle Guthrie was leaked, revealing an email in which Justin Milne, as chair of the ABC, told her to get rid of Alberici, declaring the government “hate her”.' https://theconversation.com/abc-has-for-too-long-been-unwilling-to-push-back-against-interference-at-its-journalists-expense-143999?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=bylinetwitterbutton&__twitter_impression=true
'Milne also wanted Guthrie to “shoot” political editor Andrew Probyn because the government hated him too and his continued presence was putting at risk half-a-billion dollars in funding for the ABC.'
'Assuming Milne and Guthrie were telling the truth, there could not be a clearer instance of how the government was using funding to undermine the ABC’s editorial independence.'
'In May 2018, Barnaby Joyce accepted a reported $150,000 fee to appear with his lover on Channel Seven and talk about the affair that ended Joyce’s marriage and was a breach of the ministerial code of conduct. The ABC asked me to write a commentary on it.'
'I filed an article saying Joyce’s decision to take money for telling a story that concerned his public duties called into question his fitness for public office. There was an awkward response from within the ABC indicating some disquiet further up the line...'
,'Would I mind not saying that about Joyce? The rest of that exchange was off the record, but suffice to say I minded very much and withdrew the article. It later appeared unchanged in The Conversation and The Age.'
'That incident – small in itself but large in principle – revealed a malaise in editorial leadership at several levels.'
