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It's a miserable stormy winter day in Sydney, with a flash flood alert in force - the Sydney Morning Herald:
Torrential rain has prompted a weather bureau warning of flash flooding across eastern Sydney, including the CBD.
The severe weather warning was issued shortly before 2pm today, with advice not to drive, cycle or walk through floodwaters.
I've just spent a couple of enjoyable hours watching a movie 'Italian for Beginners' (directed by Lone Scherfig) that I'd
recorded a couple of weeks ago, when it was shown on Australia's SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) television.
I have a northern european background, and I really felt transported back there for a couple of hours: a rare and welcoming
break from your normal (read perhaps: shallow) Anglo American ware on other channels (including the ABC), and it
certainly wasn't just the 'nostalgic' weather outside causing me to get absorbed with mood of the film. SBS has been a
steady provider of these treats over the years, of which I've been grateful.
Unfortunately these experiences are becoming more and more infrequent. I've lived in Australia 24 years, and during the
last few years I've witnessed a steady decline in the foreign language content on SBS. The prime time is now almost
dominated by English language and sports programs, of which I have little interest in. The introduction of commercials did
not help either - I genuinely felt betrayed by this action: it was as if I was deprived of my enjoyment. Of course, my personal
enjoyment doesn't count much in the great scheme of things, but based on my calculations there are at least 4 million
people here in Australia having a non-English speaking background, and I dare to suggest most of them share my views.
I have to confess to being slightly partial in expressing my concerns, since I've done some translating jobs for SBS
subtitling, and being a partner of an employee there. However, this has also endowed me with the insider's knowledge of
the high quality of the standards there, and subsequently an admiration for their quest for being true to their task of
transposing the original to something an Australian is at ease with.
We all (Australians) remember the dreadful and distressing case of Jonathan Shier having been nominated to the
managing director position with the ABC by the Howard government. Similar thing happened to SBS as well, although since
SBS is much smaller organisation, it didn't attract much attention. Here's a quote from David Stratton's book, 'I Peed on
Fellini':
"The SBS equivalent of Jonathan Shier was Shaun Brown, who had previously run TVNZ; if you've ever been to New
Zealand you'll know that, whatever the merits of the place, quality television isn't one of them. Errol Simper, author of a
weekly column for The Australian called 'A Certain Scribe', wrote on 8 June 2006: 'When Shaun Brown was appointed head
of SBS television in January 2003 the industrious scribe made a number of telephone calls to New Zealand… The scribe
was surprised and faintly alarmed at reactions when he told a number of NZ sources who'd worked with Brown that he'd
been put in charge of SBS television. There's no kind, gentle way to put this, so we must be blunt. Brown running SBS
television appeared to provoke a good deal of mirth and hilarity. There seemed to be a view that Brown might have a bit of
difficulty running a bath.'
Brown has said that, when he was in Sydney of interviews about the job, he spent some time in his hotel room watching
SBS. Nothing on the network interested him, apparently, apart from The Movie Show and IF Awards (Independent Film),
which happened to be screened that week and which had been produced by Margaret Pomeranz. He seems not to have
been very attracted to the kinds of programmes which were, at the time, SBS stables: movies, documentaries and current
affairs programmes."
Shaun Brow Jonathan Shier
Joseph Srzynski
I was quite hopeful and optimistic when Mr Joseph Skrzynski was nominated as the new SBS Chairman of the Board.
Suddenly Mr Brown was publicly endorsing the multiculturalism and the original charter of SBS. However, soon after, the
axe fell: 'more than 10 employees' in subtitling will be retrenched. My unconfirmed understanding is their target number is
15, because anything beyond that would require formal justification from the management, based on hard facts and
numbers. So, it might be 15 this financial year, and maybe another 15 soon after June, i.e. the whole subtitling operation will
be outsourced. I would advice Mr Skrzynski and his board to do their own research and not necessarily taking the figures
and accounts presented by the operational management as a gospel.
This post is not about lamenting the changes and progress in this life, but I do question the logic in having a respected
organisation stripped of its strengths (not just subtitling, remember Mary Kostakidis, and Margaret and David, and many
other contributors), by current management (and the Howard government who instigated the downfall).
Mary Kostakidis, Margaret Pomeranz, David Stratton
Stephen Conroy
It appears the only hope is now with the Rudd Government, and especially the
Minister in charge, Stephen Conroy. So, the same advice applies, see through the
situation generated by the previous government, and return SBS to the world
class media organisation it used to be.
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