ABC Chairman Justin Milne has quited from his role effective immediately.
Milne told to ABC that he should resign because there was a firestorm and he wanted “to provide a release valve.”
“Clearly there is a lot of pressure on the organisation, and as always, my interests have been to look after the interests of the corporation. It’s clearly not a good thing for everybody to be trying to do their job with this kind of firestorm going on,” he told ABC’s Leigh Sales.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison tweeted: “ABC Board and Chairman have made the right call. Time for the ABC to resume normal transmission, both independently and without bias. That is what Australia’s taxpayers pay for and deserve.”
Experienced journalist and previous Media Watch host Jonathan Holmes is also making the point, on ABC News, that the ABC board only acted when public sentiment appeared to turn, once the Fairfax article was first published on Wednesday.
He indicates that the board was conscious of Michelle Guthrie’s claims about being pressured to sack certain journalists at least a week before she herself was sacked –because she wrote and told them – but yet, the board did nothing.
> Shiuly Rina
