Victory of the Thought-Nannies

Listening to ABC Radio National this morning, I heard Fran Kelly interviewing Mark Scott, managing director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, for him to spruik the ABC’s “overhauled” editorial policy.

A key strategy of this overhaul apparently will be to “signpost” programs in which ABC talking-heads discuss potentially contentious material.

Scott actually raised ABC-TV’s At the Movies, hosted by David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz, as an example of programs that would be thus “signposted”.

So, for those unable to discern that statements made by Stratton and Pomeranz – often prefaced with confusing expressions such as “I think that...” and “It seems to me...” – represent anything more than the opinions of the two, the entire program will be “signposted” with a warning to the effect that statements made by Stratton and Pomeranz are nothing more than their own opinions.

This is the idiocy to which we have been led, thanks to the efforts of thought-nannies like Gerard Henderson, Richard Alston, and even the oh-so-clever Tim Blair.

Congratulations, thought-nannies of Australia! Your supreme effort will make Australia an international laughing stock.

For we are to be served by a national broadcaster that will label opinion, much as a pre-school teacher might the objects in a classroom for the benefit of illiterate children.