From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 28 May

Once upon a time, in another life in another land, when the people of Victoria wanted to watch an event of national importance they tuned their black and white televisions to ABV Channel 2. Everyone was happy…

 

THAT was, until everything at the ABC changed, irrevocably. Impartiality was deemed an anachronism.

ABC coverage of the coronation was sloppy and offensive. The hubristic, tasteless railing of Australian Republic Movement co-chair Craig Foster, journalist Stan Grant, and lawyer and Indigenous writer Teela Reid, notwithstanding; ABC presenters, Jeremy Fernandez and Julia Baird, appeared out of their depth. There was a time when they might have been sacked for ineptitude.

Ignorance is not a badge of honour. Being visually favoured is one thing; however, television is not about your hair and your clothes! Appearances require some serious preparation. As the Commonwealth flagbearers began their procession into the Abbey, Fernandez commented, without an iota of shame, the recognition thereof would be testing his knowledge! Incredulously, his comment was greeted with fulsome mirth.

Seemingly, neither had bothered to take the time to learn the flags by sight, and apparently did not have a list which, given they entered in alphabetical order, is incomprehensible! The correct order of service was available online. Their obliviousness would suggest a nonchalant lack of planning. Australians would erupt if Bruce McAvaney called the Melbourne Cup and failed to recognise the horses’ colours from half-a-mile. I have witnessed McAvaney’s fastidious process. Watched while he memorised. It is a tedious procedure and the most fundamental part of the job. Exactly like learning your lines for a play. Repetitive, but you do it. It is an audience expectation.

Both presenters struggled to identify foreign royalty, or state leaders, as they arrived at the abbey. Naturally, they recognised Kate Perry and Nick Cave. It is all about celebrity.

Sadly, announcers have been dumped, but there was a time when no on-air ABC employee had an opinion, about anything. They were there to inform; to ask the difficult questions. Not to editorialise. Lines of functioning have become blurred. Self-satisfaction prevails.

Let us look to the mispronunciations. Buckingham – as in the palace – is not a brand of Hutton’s ham! The English rule is simple: if ‘ham’ is included in the word, you drop the ‘h’ and the ‘a’ becomes a schwa – phonetically: ˈbʌkɪŋəm. West Ham is two words, Buckingham is one. I ask you, “‘Ow’ ard could that be?”

Congratulations to Channel 7. They put-in the effort and duly reaped the benefits, winning the television ratings by a country mile. The ABC, finishing in fourth place, needs to seriously review their production values. Presenters must be discouraged from putting themselves at the centre of the

story, and encouraged to concentrate on delivering facts! It would be a serious error in judgement to assume we viewers are intellectually concussed. There are those who look for substance – meat on the bones!

The columnist, Garry Linnell, one of Australia’s most respected journalists, and with an enviable pedigree, wrote, in an unsympathetic coronation piece, how King Charles would ride to the abbey in a solid gold coach! While that might sate the republican narrative, it is too silly for words. A nonsense, absolutely!

The coronation coach is made of wood, covered in gold leaf, and painted by my mob – the Italians! It is enormous, and if it were solid gold, it would need some hundreds of horses to move it!

Does it matter? Probably not; but it is incorrect.

Roland can be heard with Brett Macdonald 10.45am Mondays on radio 3BA and contacted via [email protected].