Barrie Cassidy, a longstanding presenter for ABC and a former political writer, has criticized the national broadcaster’s coverage of the Queen’s passing.
By airing almost nonstop coverage of the long-reigning monarch’s passing, Mr. Cassidy said the network committed a mistake and failed to pay heed to its viewers.
‘I suspect the ABC has misread its audience. If you want wall to wall royalty you can get it elsewhere in spades,’ Mr Cassidy said.
‘The ABC is better when it offers an alternative to populism.’
The ABC cut into its regular programming to break the news of the Queen’s passing last Friday at 3.30am, shortly after the news was announced in the UK.
Australian political journalist and ABC commentator Barrie Cassidy (pictured) has slammed the ABC’s coverage of the Queen’s death
‘I suspect the ABC has misread its audience. If you want wall to wall royalty you can get it elsewhere in spades,’ Mr Cassidy said
ABC News Breakfast was on air before 4am with co-hosts Michael Rowland (pictured) and Lisa Millar, dressed in formal black outfits and speaking on the importance of her legacy
ABC News Breakfast was on air before 4am with co-hosts Michael Rowland and Lisa Millar, dressed in formal black outfits and speaking on the importance of her legacy.
Since then its coverage has crowded out almost all other domestic and international news.
Mr Cassidy has been a feature on the ABC for more than two decades, firstly as the host of the Sunday morning political commentary program Insiders from 2001 to 2019, before taking over as the host for interview program One Plus One in 2020.
The latest controversy is the fact the ABC has sent local hosts such as ABC News Breakfast host Michael Rowland and production crews to London to cover the aftermath of the Queen’s passing.
On September 12, Michael Rowland posted to Twitter that the broadcaster would be doing the morning show out of London which was met with anger.
Twitter user @RonniSalt was especially outraged, labelling the ABC’s coverage of the death ‘an indulgent order of mourn porn’.
‘In an act of bizarre recreational grieving, the ABC have flown highly-paid talking heads and crew halfway across the world at our expense … A shocking abuse of the ABC’s charter – and our money,’ she wrote.
ABC journalist and host of The Drum Ellen Fanning, however, leapt to the defence of the network in response.
‘Nonsense. She was our head of State. The fact that she lives in London necessitates travelling there. If you find it bizarre that our Head of State lives in London, that is something Australians will have to sort out in the months and years ahead,’ she wrote.
Some people commenting online wondered how the ABC could justify the expense of sending talent and crews to the UK when the organisation has also complained of cuts to its funding by the Federal government in recent years.
Others noted the ABC did not get a ratings boost for its extended coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s death and its audience had ‘softened’ by Saturday night.
ABC’s coverage on Friday night in a program entitled Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) was only the 17th most popular show, according to OzTAM metropolitan ratings data for Australia’s five biggest cities.