The ABC and "Dangerous Documentaries"

The ABC is asset rich but cash poor. We documentary filmmakers are also asset rich – ideas are assets – but cash poor. Filmmakers and the ABC are in the same boat. We will either sink or swim together. 

Patricia Edgar is clear about the current govt’s motives for subjecting the ABC to death by a 1000 cuts:

“There is a single, simple reason why the Liberal Coalition is persecuting the ABC: they believe it will be easier to remain in power if the ABC is nobbled.”

Over the past 45 years both Liberal and Labor have been “attacking and cutting the public broadcaster’s funding , ostensibly to achieve greater efficiency with public money,”writes Edgar, whilst the motives of both parties has been,“primarily political rather than in the public interest.”

If we sink, the ABC will forfeit its deserved status as, to quote the 1981 Dix Report, “the most significant cultural institution in the country,”and Australian democracy, Australian culture, will be the poorer for it. We ignore to slow strangulation of the ABC at our peril. 

The battle to save the ABC from extinction must take place on many fronts. The one that concerns me here is Australian documentary.

I took part a couple of weeks ago in a seminar at AFTRS with other documentary filmmakers entitled “Dangerous Documentaries.” The word ‘dangerous’ applies not merely to the perils we sometimes confront filming in situations that could result in grievous bodily harm, to our arrest and incarceration, but also to the kinds of stories we wish to tell.  

One programming solution worthy of consideration by the cash-strapped ABC: A documentary strand entitled “Dangerous Documentaries”. These could be shot for low budgets, on smartphones if these are the only filmmaking affordable tools available to teenagers, young Facebookers and YouTubers with little interest in lifestyle and infotainment programs but a vested interest in the world they are growing up into, with all its attendant ‘dangers’?

“Dangerous Documentaries” should cover any and every topic that might be deemed to be ‘dangerous’ by some sector of the Australian community. The series should go where angels fear to tread, speak truth to power, step on toes,  annoy audiences, confront viewers head on with their prejudices and preconceptions; upset and outrage some viewers. This is inevitable. What is required is that “Dangerous Documentaries” be totally democratic in whom it upsets and outrages. There should be no left or right wing bias and no deference to what we once referred to as ‘political correctness ‘ but which is now, in the age of trigger warnings, rapidly approaching Orwellian Thought Police status. 

The “Dangerous Documentary” slot should be open to all filmmakers. The budgets could be set at a low enough level to make the exercise an affordable one for the ABC, (in conjunction with Screen Australia and state funding bodies, perhaps)  but high enough such that filmmakers can pay themselves and their crew a wage sufficient to cover their rent or mortgage repayments and feed, clothe and educate their kids. Documentary filmmaking should not be allowed to become a hobby that only financially independent women and men can engage in. 

Given that we dolive in an age in which delicate sensibilities can so easily be wounded, “Dangerous Documentaries” should, perhaps, come with a ‘trigger’ warning: 

“If you do not wish to run the risk of being offended, of having your cherished preconceptions about the world challenged, do not watch this documentary. If you choose to do so and are offended, outraged, please discuss, debate and argue your case with your friends, family, online and in the media but do not waste your time complaining to the ABC about bias. Our aim with this series is to be democratic in possibly annoying all sectors of the Australian community from time to time. Change channels now if you suspect that this documentary about X may cause offence”

Such a warning would not only leave serial ABC complainants scrambling for justification of their complaints, it would also provide a great marketing angle for “Dangerous Documentaries.” One week the Left will be up in arms over the content of the latest “Dangerous Documentary.” The following week it will the Right’s turn to be outraged. Great TV.

The ABC must , I believe, stop pussy footing around contentious documentary topics and feel free to upset groups within the Australian community known for their tendency to bombard the national broadcaster with letters, emails, complaints about bias, demands for an apology for this or that offence caused by the ‘inappropriate’ use of language. (Is it OK to use the expression ‘pussy-footing’ in 2019? without offending women or cats?)

Any attempt to avoid controversy on the part of the ABC to placate Canberra or avoid risking offence is likely to result in timid, bland and boring shows – lifestyle and infotainment programs - that will lead to diminished audiences and to the ABC’s eventually becoming difficult to defend as the vital and important cultural institution it must continue to be.