Barrie Cassidy shows us how to interview the likes of Peter Dutton. Keep pointing out the LIES and keep stating the FACTS.

Coronacast is by a medical practitioner and his trusty journalist friend, talking about the latest research and answering your questions, from people all around the world. New episodes every 2 to 3 days.

Today, as you can expect, The Australian are in two minds. Whether to gloat about their involvement in ABC cuts or to revert back to complaining. They went with the second strategy.

Not surprisingly, in an “end of empire” move, Scott has sought to entrench this redirection, by presiding over a concentration of resources in Sydney and Melbourne, coupled with a headlong rush into online and mobile services. This might be the way a commercial operation responds to changing business conditions and audience tastes, but the ABC was created to be a market-failure service provider, first and foremost, offering the services other outlets can’t or won’t.

Yes, the ABC are there to provide a service. Part of that service is providing content to audiences relevant to their needs. It is ridiculous to expect that only people in rural areas have a need for the ABC. To remain relevant to the majority of their audience, the ABC needs to change. They are doing this. Online content covers 5% of their budget but a significant part of their access with the community. 

Part of the argument against the ABC is declining television ratings. This is only because their service is doing what they intended. iView has revolutionised Australian media. 

So here we see a scenario where a so called 'efficiency dividend' is being used to argue for cuts. But the Coalition and anti-ABC outlets don't care about efficiency, they just want a weaker ABC.

The creation of ABC Digital Network is a reckless development, pushing the broadcaster further into the most dynamic area of the media world. Start-ups like Mamamia and Buzzfeed, the entry of Guardian Australia and others, and expansion into apps by traditional media, among other innovations, mean there is more media competition than ever. The ABC is not there to compete against and crowd out new and existing entrants in ultra-competitive areas.

Yes, the ABC is not there to meet the needs of its audience. That's only something for major outlets to bundle up and sell five years after the audience wanted it. Right? 

Scott and his sundry surrogates — Labor, the Greens, the journalists union, even their fellow travellers on the docks — are waging a public relations war against the government, with soon-to-be redundant staff as battle fodder.

This is partly true. It is a PR war. As every funding dispute would be. But it is the government who waged war on ABC. There is no way it could have won. Cuts driven by ideology have no match for the most trusted news outlet in the nation. 

No amount of online petitions or bitchy tweets complaining about where the cuts came from will save the government from negative public opinion surrounding this issue. It was always going to fail, like the 12-months of screaming "BIAS" at every stage leading up to this would have. 

It’s lamentable, yet no surprise, that the ABC breaks so few stories; its reporters are followers, not leaders, which is scandalous given there are so many of them. Witness the implosion of the Palmer United Party. The ABC reports this breathlessly as a celebrity tabloid yarn with Jacqui Lambie at the centre of the drama. By contrast, The Australian, almost single-handedly, has reported on PUP founder and funder Clive Palmer from virtually every angle, exposing his business practices, bizarre policy positions, litigation history and questionable personal conduct.

The Australian saved their own self-congratulations to the last paragraph which is impressive. 

To be fair to The Australian, they remain, and always will be, the Jenna Maroney of Australian media.