Hugh Marks decries ‘opportunistic’ attacks on the ABC – but concedes broadcaster blew it with Bluey

The ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, has criticised attacks on the ABC as “opportunistic” as it faces accusations its Four Corners program distorted a speech by Donald Trump on 6 January 2021, but he said there are lessons to learn from the BBC’s error. The ABC has faced pressure from Sky News Australia and The Australian who have called the treatment of the speech in a Four Corners episode an “almost identical act of deception” as the edit of a BBC program which led to multiple high-level resignations at the British public broadcaster. Marks told the National Press Club on Wednesday the criticism was not legitimate. Related: The ABC has been attacked in News Corp outlets for its editing of Trump’s Capitol speech. Did it do the same as the BBC? “I think the comparison of the ABC[’s] Four Corners to the BBC Panorama show was opportunistic. The same faults were not consistent on both programs. I didn’t accept that was legitimate criticism … That one I thought was opportunistic and false,” he said. Marks also conceded the ABC had missed an opportunity to monetise the Bluey franchise. The popular children’s show was a joint ABC and BBC production, but the British broadcaster makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year out of the licensing and merchandising, which the ABC does not. Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter Marks, who comes from a commercial background, said the ABC owed it to taxpayers to look at different models to avoid the same fate in the future. “The BBC probably makes $300m a year out of a property that was a joint BBC-ABC production, but we should have been more active in the participation in what that was going to be … It’s incredible and probably the biggest show around the world. Yeah, it’s a lost opportunity. But it’s happened … Let’s not make the same mistake again.” Reflecting on the BBC Panorama error, the managing director said there were lessons to learn but noted that the ABC’s structure is more independent, which allows it to remain impartial. “If I look at the BBC – and I see a lot of the commentary that’s been going on around what’s happened to them, not just in the last event but over time – you see there are things that have been chipping away at that independence,” he said. “[At the ABC] there is an independent board and the managing director is independent again of the board. All of those various elements, when they work well, really provide the framework for me to be able to give our people the opportunity to do their best work. Without fear [and] second guessing [of] ‘am I doing the right thing, treating the right interests, have I got the politics of this right?’ To be able to stick to accuracy and impartiality.” On Wednesday Marks said another lesson to learn from the BBC’s error was to own its mistakes and move on from a “defensive” posture the ABC has developed over decades. “We have to not cower, but we can’t be defensive when we make a mistake, own it. It’s not hard,” he said. Related: Some investors in AI ‘are extremely autocratic’, says ABC chair Kim Williams “When I arrived at the ABC there was a defence mindset … The organisation had a fearfulness of external force, and I think that fearfulness drives a counterproductive behaviour which is, we must at all times react to that.” Marks said he welcomed “reasonable scrutiny of the ABC”, and that there would always be commentary on the broadcaster and its coverage, which is part of the “vibrancy of media”. But he said it does have an impact on staff at the organisation. “When we can see criticism of us that is valid, we must make sure that we respond in the appropriate way. Otherwise, I don’t want everybody focused on that all the time. It’s the wrong thing. It leads to poor decisions,” he said. “It’s a struggle, right? Because when stuff is written, it hurts. But again I will say: ‘are you doing a good job? Was the work great? Yes, yes. Stick to that … ignore the noise.’”