The ABC and the Glass House: Shooting the Clown

I was quite shellshocked when I read today of ABC's abrupt, unexplained decision to axe its comedy/current affairs show The Glass House. It was a nasty sensation. Here it is, the new ABC. It's really going to happen.

Now, let's get one thing straight. I do enjoy watching The Glass House. I don't think it's brilliant TV, but it is always been one thing: frank and fearless. The show's humour has always cut close to the bone, it's often been shamelessly political, but there's one thing it has never been: shamelessly (or even shamefully) partisan. If John Howard's been a dill this week, John Howard cops it. If Kim Beazley's said something daffy, it's him who gets sent up. Certainly, host Wil Anderson is obviously no fan of Howard's, but again, to construe the show as anything more than satire is pure lunacy. Dare I suggest that criticising the long tradition of taking the piss out of our public figures is itself `un-Australian'?

It has also been suggested that the show's bias was perceived to be in the fact that its co-host, Corinne Grant, had hosted some events for the ACTU's Your Rights At Work campaign. Well, bugger me. This really does set a precedent. By my reckoning, we'll also be hearing the last of Silverchair after they dared to write `PG [Peter Garrett] for PM' onstage at the Aria Awards. Likewise, Patricia `Little Patti' Amphlett must not be seen to sing a note via ABC airwaves, as she sang the `It's Time' theme from Gough Whitlam's election campaign. And the spurious relationship between Big Ted and Little Ted on `Play School'? Well, we already know that Piers Akerman's on to that particular piece of propaganda.

One thing's for sure. The Chaser will never, ever be seen again.

Please bear with me for a diversion into polemic. Quite seriously, it's often the comedy in society that tells us much more about the true state of political affairs than the journalism. The notion of the fool being the only one who could criticise the king has always held true. A recent SBS documentary demonstrated, with great insight, the way stand-up comedy and humour were used by citizens living under totalitarian regimes; how renegade comedians could, quite literally, contribute to such events as the tearing down of the Berlin War. I remember, while living in New York in the months following September 11th - that the only people telling the truth about what some people felt was the cartoonists, people like Tom Tomorrow.

Is the website set up by the noxious Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, which allows punters to report shocking incidents of left-wing bias on the ABC at the touch of a button a quasi-Dorothy Dixer? It seems suspicious that the website was set up at exactly the same time as the announcement of the ABC's recent editorial changes (I add that, when I attempted to log on to the ABC's website to make a complaint about the show's axing, it was `unavailable due to emergency maintenance'. The cynic in me calls shenanigans but, unlike the shrill Right, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt). Even the fact that John Howard has been forced to publicly deny playing any part in the decision is incredibly ominous. Since when have we even had to consider the question worth asking?

This would be an appropriate time to farewell the ABC's Media Watch for the year and, who knows? Maybe forever ...