"There is so much [media] now available... today they can stream it on their devices or smart tv," former ABC Chairman Maurice Newman told 2GB's Chris Smith.
"My generation grew up with the ABC... but there has been such a plethora of radio, tv, online that the availability of quality media is ubiquitous, cheap and accessible... there is no need to spend so much on those two public broadcasters."
Newman's main thesis related to SBS, and how migrants can now access information from their homeland easily from the internet. He was speaking after publishing an opinion article in The Australian titled ABC, SBS no longer have public purpose (subscription required).
The article featured a cartoon by Tom Gellett of B1 and B2 as homeless street people.
"You have the totalitarians on the hard left who want to have government sanctioned journalism, with access to producers, government... these people lobby very hard for left leaning content... this is not what the overwhelming amount of people [want to] pay for."
He dismissed suggestion that a merger of the ABC and SBS would be successful. Listen to the interview here.
A declining share of TV and radio audiences suggests that any distinctiveness the ABC may have had is losing its appeal. Younger demographics are mostly getting their news and entertainment from established social media feeds. Any public broadcasting behemoth seeking to be distinctive now, or in the future, will probably struggle in this increasingly fickle, demanding and, crowded cyberspace.
The stark reality is that today's case for taxpayer-funded media is thin and getting thinner. We can no longer dismiss the improvements to our freedoms, budgets and national debate, the break-up and sale of our public broadcasters would deliver us.
Countering Newman's argument, David Salter, writing in Crikey (subscription required) in response to the Newman opinion piece, asserts that the public broadcasters remain important in the modern media mix.