In a time that is as impactful and as upsetting as the one we’re in right now, you’d think stories from a diverse group of communities as well as laughter might be things that the government want to push right now. But you’d evidently be wrong – as the ABC is cutting up to 250 jobs with the rebranding of ‘ABC Comedy’ and ‘ABC Life’.
In devastating news for an already decimated media industry, the $84 million in budget cuts has reportedly led to this mass axing of vital jobs as the company goes under some huge changes.
‘ABC Life’ will be rebranded to ‘ABC Local’, ‘ABC Comedy’ will be rebranded to cater to a broader audience and a bigger variety of programs, the company’s travel budget will be cut by 25% and spending on both external and independent television productions will be cut by $5 million a year. These are just some of the losses the company is facing.
With redundancies set to hit every facet of the company, managing director David Anderson told staff in a briefing that he anticipates the company “may farewell as many as 250 colleagues through this process.”
ABC Life editor Bhakthi Puvanenthiran took to Twitter to share that up to half of the ABC Life team will be let go.
https://twitter.com/bhakthi/status/1275615056793722881?s=20
“It’s devastating news and the details are unclear right now,” she wrote.
“But what I know for sure is I’m really proud of what we’ve built, telling diverse stories the ABC has never told before.”
triple j Hack‘s Avani Dias shared that 53 people will be made redundant from the Entertainment and Specialist team.
This comes just days after Scott Morrison revealed he would finally stop neglecting the Arts & Entertainment industries with a stimulus coming next month, after four months of limited relief for those whose jobs were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
