One of Margaret Thatcher's ministers once complained that,

'The word conservative is now used by the BBC as a portmanteau word of abuse for anyone whose political views differ from the insufferable, smug and sanctimonious, naive, guilt ridden, wet, pink orthodoxy of that sunset home of that third-rate decade, the 1960s.'

One cannot help wondering if this eloquently bitter diatribe is equally applicable to Australia. Is the word conservative used by the ABC as a term of abuse ? Well it probably depends upon who you ask, certainly some Coalition ministers would be inclined to agree and Richard Alston has been very vocal in saying so. The question of media bias in the ABC is one worth exploring.

If you tune into Triple J you can almost instantly detect the sometimes blatant bias. Sarah McDonald, Sarah Landau and Jen Aldershaw lead the charge of bright young women, for whom whatever is fashionable is correct, the Left is good, the Right is the epitome of ignorance and evil. The promotion of the 'Howard's End' concert and the 'Rock Enrol' campaign are demonstrative of the youth network's bias.

For the past few weeks prominent Australian bands have been telling Triple J listeners if they care about multiculturalism, the environment, Jabiluka national park, gay rights etc, they must enrol to vote. The implicit assumption was that the Howard government was launching a full scale assault on these sacred cows and that to save Australia they must vote Labor and or Greens or Democrat. They just stopped short of mentioning names and parties, that is all except the 'Whitlams' Tim Freedman, who gleefully predicted the end of the Howard government and actively promoted the 'Howard's End' concerts. Senator Alston complained, then Richard Ackland of the ABC's Media Watch complained. In suitably smug and sanctimonious tones Ackland informed viewers that Alston was merely kicking the ABC can, Peter Costello had lent his support to the Rock Enrol campaign, so what's the fuss ?

The blatant bias of Triple J is probably unique in the ABC, but bias exists nonetheless. The 7:30 Report's Kerry O'Brien worked for Whitlam and Lionel Bowen, his colleague Barrie Cassidy served as Bob Hawke's press secretary and Jennifer Byrne's sympathies are well known. So what ? Does this mean their bias permeates their work ? Not necessarily and not all the time. But it could be that these journalists are indicative of a left of centre publicly funded corporation, headed at various times by Labor sympathisers like David Hill, who just lost his bid for a NSW Labor seat, and Brian Johns. This might be guilt by association, but given the intense criticism of the ABC's election coverage there is cause for concern. The left leaning bias of the ABC is usually seen in the content of news or current affairs, but it also manifests itself in the broadcasting of certain programmes.

To name a few examples from recent history, the ABC has broadcast a sympathetic documentary on 'Red Ted' Theodore, a Queensland Labor Premier and Treasurer in Labor's Scullin Government. A vivid and devastating description of Theodore in Frank Hardy's Power Without Glory renders Brian Burke the model of propriety in comparison. Then there was the sympathetic documentary on Labor Leader H V Evatt, who was mentally unfit for his office. Then the documentary on Manning Clark, in which his Soviet links, the lies and the awful history were glibly dismissed by sympathetic historians and family and friends. No critical witnesses were present, only passing reference was made to Peter Ryan, Manning Clark's publisher.