From Fairfax to the ABC: Mark Scott makes the leap

The big media news today is the decision to appoint former Fairfax editorial director Mark Scott to run our national broadcaster. The ABC's old Managing Director, Russell Balding, decided to bugger-off and earn some real money late last year, and since then the ABC's been under the guidance of Murray Green; although, in all reality, the broadcaster has been in a state transition since the vehemently divisive Jonathan Shier left at the end of 2001. The first MD to be appointed from outside the national broadcaster since Shier left five years ago, Scott will arguably be the most important head the ABC's had for quite some time. His time at Fairfax showed he's just as comfortable wielding an axe - something that's going to become more and more contentious, although some would argue necessary, in the next few years - as he is making editorial decisions.

No-one's really sure of what to make of Scott's appointment, with many at the ABC describing him as an unknown entity, which really means most people at the national broadcaster are not quite sure where his political allegiances lie, or whether he'll collapse under the government's reform agenda. The statement from the ABC's newly-elected staff board member, Quinten Dempster, who's position is set to be eliminated by the federal government in the next month or so, echoing concerns about Scott's broadcasting experience are more about Scott's reportedly close ties to Communications Minister Helen Coonan than anything else.

What was interesting, though, was how Scott's beloved Sydney Morning Herald reported the decision. "'Mark who?' to run ABC" lead the SMH's story, referring to a quote from Dempster about how few at the ABC had actually ever heard of Scott. In media circles he's known as a pragmatic numbers man; someone who probably falls on the "business" side of the "journalism business" equation, and someone who probably had a fair bit to say about the recently announced restructures and redundancies at Fairfax's fledgling buisness masthead BRW. The Ghost doubts very much that those bunch of broadsheet junkies at the ABC are unawares of who Scott is, or what he's been doing for the past few decades. Again, it's just probably politiking on Dempster's behalf.

But The Ghost is sure the subs at the SMH, who have been sweating over Scott's cost-cutting reign ever since he was given sole control of all the Fairfax broadsheets - SMH, The Age, The Sun Herald, and the Sunday Age - about four years ago, loved the chance to get one last poke at their boss before he left the building. What will be even more interesting - at least from The Ghost's vantage point - than watching what Scott does with ABC, its culture and its funding, will be how the Fairfax broadsheets, especially the SMH, who Scott had the most direct contact with, will cover Mark Scott's reign as head of the ABC. Don't expect the nation's broadsheets to go easy on Scott, I'd say expect the opposite, but I'll keep you up to date.