Unfortunately, while I don't think there is any answer for this, it is an extremely interesting question, that is, whether the ABC should be totally dedicated to the pursuit of ratings, since it is spending tax dollars. Should utilitarianism be out the window? That is, should minorities and niche markets be disregarded in favour of populist progamming.
The appeal of the ABC to many, is that it avoids the over-commercial, superficial, racist, dogmatic programming of the commercial networks. But, those are often the shows that most Australians enjoy to watch.
Some interesting observations were made in the tutorial in regards to sitcoms, and the evolution of laugh-tracks in Australian shows. It is remarkable that 'Hey Dad!' was the only show to use them, and that Australia has indeed suffered from a fear of the sit-com.
Something that I want to raise, that should have been raised last week, in the discussion of the SBS is the idea of multiculturalism. Essentially, I think this can be quite a dangerous ideal. And unfortunately it is an unresolvable one. Obviously not all content on SBS is 'multicultural', however the term is present in the mandate, and so would be persistently in the minds of those who control content at the Special Broadcast Service.
Slavoj Zizek has convinced me that multiculturalism is hegemonic. The politically correct idea of respecting the 'others' difference is extremely dangerous and actually quite racist. For Zizek, there is no progressive form of multiculturalism. In fact, by marking it as the master signifier of politics, we end up with contemporary modes of liberal racism, sexism etc. The Other remains as an Other; someone to be tolerated, but deprived of their radical otherness.
Look at ethnic cuisines in Australia. They are heralded as a sign of progress, that we are a multicultural society. Essentially, the fact that you can get a curry in Paddington don't mean jack. These restaurants become novelty and indeed Australians are suspicious if the staff at these restaurants do not match their expectations. That is, if they find chefs of Vietnamese descent cooking in an Italian trattoria, they will be suspicious.
I experienced this first hand last week. I work at il Baretto, an Italian resturant in Surry Hills. A customer, who I could tell was Italian, asked me halfway through her meal if the chef was Italian. She was shocked when I said no; I suppose she would be even more shocked to hear that the head chef has spent much of his life cooking Thai and Chinese cuisines. At the end of the meal, she approached the chef, who was speaking to the owner (who is Italian), and said, "that was really great; especially for an Australian." Strange.
Today's racism is precisely a racism of cultural difference. It no longer says, "I am more than you"; it says "I want my culture, but you have to keep yours." The notion of tolerance, under the liberal multiculturalist guise, masks its opposite: intolerance.
Julie Kristeva goes one step further to suggest that we cannot tolerate difference because we cannot tolerate difference in ourselves. But that is a story for another day.
Having said all this, I love the SBS. I don't love it as much as I did when I was younger; there are far fewer films, and far too much football and car shows (though I do love TopGear). The ads are annoying, but they still have Lee Lin Chin reading the 6.30pm news and that is great!
I also love the fact, that by accident, SBS executives may have stumbled upon a new format for television, and television advertising. I also love that SBS executives have the guts and foresight to pick-up shows like Queer as Folk, and OZ, even after all the other channels knock them back. Of course, as we have said, they are smarter with their advertising, and don't need the high ratings, however they still persist in showing risque content, and during the early naughties that was commendable considering the conservative guillotine which seemed to fell any attempts at subverting John Howard's 1950s values.
