The ABC has made a fresh public appeal urging our political leaders to hold the next federal election debate on public broadcaster’s platforms.
The push for the ABC to host the next debate comes after a decision by the two political parties to hold the first debate on the News Corp owned Sky News channel generated considerable criticism from some voters.
Data obtained by TV Blackbox reveals the Sky News Peoples Forum held on Wednesday evening in Queensland was watched by a total national audience of approximately 416,000 Australians across News Corp’s broadcast and internet platforms. (Details below)
In a public statement issued on Thursday, a spokesperson for the ABC confirmed the broadcaster was:
“currently in discussions with both the LNP and Labor to host a debate during the campaign between the Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.”
The spokesperson added that the ABC was:
“encouraged by the discussions so far and looks forward to sharing details of the debate when all parties are in agreement.”
The current ABC proposal is for a Federal Leaders debate hosted by respected political journalist and Insiders/Q+A host David Speers. The event would be broadcast live nationally across the public broadcasters various TV, radio, and internet platforms.
The push by the ABC comes after Wednesday evening’s debate on Sky News delivered modest audiences for the news channel.
Across the platforms of Foxtel, the Sky News People’s Forum was watched by a national audience of 192,400. This result made it the most-watched program on Sky News since the 2019 election. Audience figures for the 2022 People’s Forum were up +84% compared to the 2019 People’s Forum between Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten.
An additional audience of 102,300 watched the debate across Australia via the Sky News Regional free-to-air broadcast channel. A result that made it the most-watched event in the history of that channel.
The Sky News People’s forum was also made available to stream for free across various News Corp controlled websites, where it attracted an additional 121,000 live streams.
ABC is so biased, why would the Libs want to go in there!
Disgusted that it didn’t get the exposure to the millions it should have. Those without pay TV were penalised. Our National Broadcast er is where it should have been shown!
The best outcome would be a Liberal announcement for a cut in ABC funding live during the debate. Sure-fire vote winner.