Peter Manning

Dr Peter Manning is Adjunct Professor of Journalism at UTS, Sydney, a former Executive Producer of “Four Corners” and head of News and Current Affairs at ABC TV and Channel 7 and the author of “Representing Palestine”

Peter's recent articles

The ABC does not have an "editor-in-chief"

Reporters continue to refer to the managing director of the ABC, David Anderson, as the editor-in-chief. There is no such office in the ABC.

Australia's pro-Israel media fights facts and ends careers

The day after Scott Morrison set the date for the mid-May 2019 federal election, Labor lost one of its star women performers. International lawyer Melissa Parke, the Member for Fremantle, a shrewd get by Kevin Rudd back in 2007, announced her resignation from politics.

Stuck in the craw of the Coalition

What is it about the ABC that gets stuck in the craw of the Coalition?

PETER MANNING. How access journalism is threatening investigative journalism.

Mainstream journalists give us a never ending series of exclusives'. They are usually from a source that wants easy publicity, usually a Minister. In the process the journalist becomes a 'victim' of the source.The inference is that if you don't give this story a good run you won't get any more leaks. Just forget about investigating the real issues that might be at stake in this particular field or any other.See below an article that Peter Manning wrote on this subject in December last year.(John Menadue)

PETER MANNING. Good journalists failed badly

For the past fortnight Ive read, listened and watched every in-depth explanation of how and why Bill Shorten got the election wrong. The wait was deliberate. I wanted to ease my way out of the shock of how Labor lost the unloseable election. Until now, only John Hewson is the public figure who knows what its like to wear that sobriquet.

PETER MANNING. The unknown thoughts of Chair Ita

If Ita Buttrose, AO OBE is appointed ABC Chair of the Board in the next few days it will represent yet another opportunity for her to show her extraordinary talents at confronting difficult media challenges and coming out a winner.

PETER MANNING. The Chair the ABC needs

After a year from hell, the ABC desperately needs stability, leadership, vision and funds.

PETER MANNING. The Best of 2018: Public trust and the ABC, a landmine for Turnbull.

Its a long-time ago now but in the early 1990s, just after Id finished my stint as head of ABC TV News and Current Affairs (and having a blue with first Bob Hawke and then David Hill over ABC TV coverage of the first Iraq war), I took over as General Manager of the ABCs Radio National.

PETER MANNING. A tone-deaf chairman at the ABC.

ABC Chair Justin Milne has criticized Michelle Guthries leadership skills as not good enough for the Board of the ABC. The truth is his own communication skills in relating to staff are deficient and tone-deaf.

PETER MANNING. Despite her good intentions, Michelle Guthrie was never the right fit for the ABC (the Conversation, 25.09.18)

Michelle Guthrie has been badly treated not by being sacked, but by being hired in the first place. As a former Head of ABC TV News and Current Affairs, I met Guthrie several times at functions in the ABC, and once at a social dinner party. We discussed the state of ABC News and other editorial matters. She was well aware she was on a steep learning curve.

PETER MANNING. Liberals on another planet

It disturbs me a great deal that it was the Federal Council of the Liberal Party that called by a large margin for the privatisation of the ABC. Not the rambo Young Liberals. Not a local branch in Sydneys southern Shire or Northern Beaches. Not a state Branch gone troppo. But the full Federal Council.

PETER MANNING. Public trust and the ABC, a landmine for Turnbull.

It's a long-time ago now but in the early 1990s, just after Id finished my stint as head of ABC TV News and Current Affairs (and having a blue with first Bob Hawke and then David Hill over ABC TV coverage of the first Iraq war), I took over as General Manager of the ABCs Radio National.

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