Judith Whelan,ABC's director of regional and local.Credit:ABC
Speaking on ABC Radio on Tuesday,Ms Whelan shrugged-off suggestions the public broadcaster was in breach of its charter.
“We fulfil the charter in so many ways in sport across our weekly coverage,” she said. “We cover women’s cricket,we cover women’s golf,we cover codes across the year that are important to communities across Australia.
"[The Olympics are] 16 days every four years. It was an incredibly hard decision to make… but we are facing such tight budgetary pressure that we’re being forced to make hard decisions. This is one we thought about long and hard.”
Virginia Trioli has gone hard on ABC management over its decision to pull radio coverage of the Olympics.Credit:Kristoffer Paulsen
Ms Whelan said the public broadcaster would save about $1 million by not calling Olympic games. She stressed the public broadcaster would still be covering the international sporting event for its news bulletins.
Not everyone is satisfied with Ms Whelan’s explanation. While interviewing her on Tuesday,high-profile radio host Virginia Trioli suggested $1 million was “bang for the buck” given how many Australians engage with the Olympics.
“Just adding that up quickly in my head,that’s about the cost of four middle managers at the ABC,” she said. “There are many of us at the ABC who could name a few of those that could be winnowed out.”