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Digital Business insights: Elephant and the dog
IN INDIA there is a proverb "The dogs may bark but the elephant moves on."
In Australia, we have a different version, ‘The Australian newspaper barks, but the ABC moves on."
And The Australian barks, only because it is prodded by its owner.
"Right, the Labor Government has gone, now let's have a go at the ABC."
Every day we find new articles in The Australian, all questioning the management and leadership of the ABC, which happens to be our most valuable information asset, providing insights and support for Australian business and community services at a time of major digital disruption and radical change. Information that isn't easy to find elsewhere.
The dog barks but the elephant moves on.
The ABC is an unusual organisation and we are lucky to have it.
Like the BBC in the UK, it focuses on the key national and local issues of the day, providing useful insights and support for the many different sectors of our society. It is largely taken for granted, but without it there would be an enormous hole in our ability to grow and prosper meaningfully as a society.
Whereas The Australian is trapped in the past, and dedicated to attack anything that conflicts with the whims of its owner.
The bitterness of old age is apparent. And I don't mean The Australian , or the ABC.
The Australian no longer deserves its name. It should be called the American.
It is a sad outcome for a once great publishing house, as it struggles for readership and revenue, but continues to decline and fall. And I don't mean the ABC.
A newspaper media empire that once was powerful, responds too late to the digital revolution, fires its journalists, retains its commentators and becomes increasingly irrelevant as the internet continues to grow in leverage and power.
And of course I mean The Australian , not the ABC.
The Australian is dying steadily and with good reason.
It is becoming increasingly irrelevant as the ABC becomes increasingly relevant.
And that is completely to do with the focus and commitment of leadership and management. One has it right and the other has it wrong.
Most of the newspaper commentators just don't have the time or resources to look into any subject in depth, so each weekly column, half page or full page is superficial, a quick opinion or a rewrite of something we've seen before.
Sometimes, the commentators are expected to write one, two or even three pieces for the paper and it shows.
Delivering opinion pieces, day after day, week after week. It is not easy.
Research takes time. Digging out the facts takes time. Talking to sources takes time. Finding good sources can take even longer. Thinking takes time and the commentators in The Australian, each with their handsome portrait in a box by their name, don't have that luxury.
So they just tell us what they think. Or what the owner thinks. And under that constant guidance, they have shifted their targets from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard to Kevin Rudd to climate change to carbon tax to the Labor Government and now to the ABC.
There are a few lucky staffers not forced to play the game, but most of them are, all at a time, when Australia needs even more and better real journalism, vision and insight, not quick, slick opinion.
Meanwhile the elephant doesn't react. It just moves on.
And delivers the goods. Far and wide. Across all media. By radio, TV, website and podcast.
To farmers, to households, to drivers, to students, to families, to businesses, community services, to the young and the old, overseas and at home. The ABC does a pretty good job really. Given the restrictions it operates under.
And all the while, that constant yapping and yelping in the background.
Jealousy, frustration, resentment, inadequacy, envy, admiration even, but ...
The elephant moves on.
- John Sheridan, December 2013.
John Sheridan is CEO of Digital Business insights, an organisation based in Brisbane, Australia, which focuses on helping organisations and communities adapt to, and flourish in, the new digital world. He is the author of Connecting the Dots and getting more out of the digital revolution. Digital Business insights has been researching and analysing the digital revolution for more than 12 years and has surveyed more than 50,000 businesses, conducting in-depth case study analysis on more than 350 organisations and digital entrepreneurs.
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