David Anderson, a 30-year veteran at the public broadcaster, has been appointed ABC managing director by the chair, Ita Buttrose, replacing the sacked Michelle Guthrie.
“Mr Anderson is an exceptional media professional with strong content, digital and strategic experience,” Buttrose said.
“The ABC Board resolved unanimously to appoint David Anderson following a national and international search that produced many impressive candidates.
“With almost 30 years of service, David’s knowledge of the ABC is unsurpassed. He has a deep understanding of audience needs and the board is confident he has the skills and ability to respond to the challenges of a changing media environment.
Congratulations to David Anderson on his appointment as Managing Director of the ABC. He will be an outstanding leader of the public broadcaster.
— Mark Scott (@mscott) May 3, 2019
“We believe he is the right person to lead the Corporation at this time. David already enjoys the trust and confidence of the ABC leadership team and staff and he is ideally placed to continue to provide strong leadership and direction.”
A former head of television, Anderson knows the business from the ground up. He is well liked internally and is seen as a steady hand to lead the organisation after a tumultuous three years which saw Guthrie sacked halfway into a five-year term in September. Guthie’s sacking led to the resignation of the chair Justin Milne and a leadership vacuum at the top until Buttrose was appointed earlier this year.
Congratulations David Anderson on his appointment as MD of THE ABC. David came down from his office to hang off one of the ropes that helped tilt the set for this sketch some 20 years ago. True story. https://t.co/QkHVazPVYc
— Shaun Micallef (@shaunmicallef) May 3, 2019
Anderson has beaten off a strong field of external candidates for the job which pays just under $1m a year.
Guthrie, the first female managing director, sued the ABC when she left and walked away with $1.64m.
The appointment comes on the eve of the federal election and the promise of a restoration of some of the Coalition’s funding cuts if Labor is victorious.
Bill Shorten has promised not to implement the $84m indexation pause which is set to kick in at the end of the financial year. The Coalition slashed the ABC’s budget last May to help the broadcaster “live within their means”.
The appointment was welcomed by senior staff including the director of news Gaven Morris, 7.30 executive producer Justin Stevens and Q&A executive producer Peter McEvoy.
Anderson’s role of director, entertainment & specialist, will now need to be filled, along with several other senior management roles which are already vacant.
Up until September, when he stepped into the managing director’s chair, he was responsible for all the ABC radio music networks (triple j, Double j, Classic, Country and Jazz), podcasts and specialist radio content (Radio National) as well as broadcast television networks (ABCTV, ABC Kids, ABC Comedy, ABC ME) and on-demand products and services (iview, ABC Listen, ABC Kids Listen, ABC Kids), and network websites and apps.
Anderson has already proved himself a good performer at Senate estimates and is across the detail in a way Guthrie never managed to be.