More job cuts at the ABC, the axing of Q&A, the end of The Project, the announcement of a new TV current affairs program, the sale of a leading daily news podcast... and that's just the media news that came after the shooting of multiple Australian journalists in Los Angeles at the start of the week.
When we created Lamestream we wanted to create an outlet that would provide breaking news and analysis on the media industry, to help explain what's going on and why it matters – for people inside the industry, and for its audiences.
This week has been our busiest yet on those fronts. On Tuesday, Scott was the first to report the ABC was set to embark on a new restructure. Throughout the week he reported on what was going on inside the ABC, and what the cuts and changes meant for staff and people who care about the future of the ABC.
In today's newsletter he's written a sharp analysis that succinctly breaks down exactly what's going on, and the damage that's being done by so many restructures that seem driven more by the whims of individual leaders than any actual strategy.
We touched on the ABC cuts on our podcast this week, but we focused on the escalating attacks on journalists in the US, the rise and fall of Network 10's The Project, and looked at the strife a number of media outlets, including the ABC, found themselves in when reporting the trial of Erin Patterson.
👀 Killer Grabs: Quotes from around the traps.
✍ Breaking down what the ABC's latest cuts are really about
🏆 The Good Ones: The best journalism, opinion and entertainment for you to enjoy.
Killer Grabs
"I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg." — US President Donald Trump
It's funny when he accidentally acknowledges the reality of international law and confirming that by illegally boarding Thunberg's vessel, the Madleen, and taking its passengers into custody Israel had effectively kidnapped them.
"The objective is to enhance our TV slate." — ABC Managing Director Hugh Marks
A smart, succinct topline strategy for the ABC's 1985 restructure, before the internet existed and Australians primarily connected with media through terrestrial television.
The problem is Marks said that this week, in 2025. And the internet definitely exists.
"Rose Bay... doesn't have a decent supermarket." — Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane
It's one of Sydney's wealthiest suburbs, but apparently the fact it only has two supermarkets – Parisi’s Food Hall and a Woolworths Metro – means it shouldn't be planned for more housing.
Breaking down what the ABC's latest cuts are really all about
By Scott Mitchell
ABC chair Kim Williams was the only person wearing a suit and tie when he sat down last August, inside studio 22 at the broadcaster's Ultimo headquarters. The rest of the guests at the "Futurecast" symposium were in the changemaker uniform of t-shirts, blazers and sneakers. But even though he didn’t fit the scene, it was Williams who was the headline act.
His presence was a coup for the ABC department that organised the simulacrum of a TEDx event hosted at the ABC, and its boss, Angela Stengel, conducted the in-conversation with Williams herself. But less than 12 months later, her Digital Content and Innovation team, as well as the entire digital transformation it was responsible for, has been dismantled in a restructure announced this week.
But if the executive class at the ABC, led by new managing director Hugh Marks, intended to swing the axe at symposiums and tech demos, then they have spectacularly missed the target.
The latest round of job cuts at the ABC will send 50 staff out the door, including 40 full-time, permanent positions. The bulk of those facing redundancies are digital journalists, who were told they were at the forefront of the broadcaster’s digital transformation only two years ago by the ABC’s last batch of senior executives.
