• Marni Cordell

13 November 2009The ABC's Mark Scott likes describing the media future as a 'town square' but is very quiet on how investigative journalism fits in, writes Marni Cordell in New Matilda

IT’S OFFICIAL: ABC managing director Mark Scott (pictured) is the darling of new media. He's been working on the image for some time, making regular appearances at media conferences and using every opportunity available to spruik his vision for the public broadcaster as a virtual "town square".

A year ago, I identified this trend and questioned whether it was the right direction for the ABC to be taking. Now that he has the support of a chorus of journalists and new media types it's even more urgent that we scrutinise this shift for what it is.

Last week Scott spoke at the Media140 conference in Sydney about the ABC's plans to transform the ABC into a hub for user-generated content — announcing that he would soon open at least 50 new positions for digital media trainers across the country. The ABC Open Project, to be launched next year, will see more than 50 digital media producers stationed in ABC centres around Australia. Their job will be to teach the punters how to upload their own content to the ABC's website...

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