Imagine, too, the ABC children's website, The Playground, taking ads from a fast-food company. In a cyberworld already awash with advertising, the commercial-free ABC becomes even more important. As traditional forms of media break down into a million different content-providers pumping out their material from all corners of the Earth, a national cultural institution such as the ABC can keep alive the notion of an Australian society. Commitment to the independence of the ABC is more than just rhetoric. It means understanding the difference between private media organisations and public institutions.
Commercial organisations sell their audiences to their advertisers for money.
The ABC audience has already paid, and they don't want to be bought and sold. They come to the ABC to be entertained, but also to listen, to learn, to think and to wonder. There are those within the senior ranks of the ABC who are keen to move further and faster towards a commercial model, selling more ABC products, doing more deals by selling ABC content. While this commercial activity brings in valuable dollars, it comes at a cost. And the ultimate cost may well be the loss of independence from commercial pressures.