• Rhonda Jolly
• Parliamentary Library

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28 April 2011It appears public service broadcasters have survived 'the market liberal reforms of the late twentieth century', and like the subject of this paper, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), they maintain considerable public support.5 Indeed, public service broadcasters have eagerly embraced social innovation concepts of the twenty first century and are in the process of transformation to public service media organisations, which embrace both broadcasting and user-created content functions.

The paper presents an overview of Australia's principal public broadcaster, the ABC, with reference to its origins, current composition and functions and its vision for a viable future within a changing media environment. The paper also makes reference to some of the controversies which have been integral to long-running discussion about the ABC—allegations of bias, political appointments to the broadcaster and the perennial question of funding adequacy.