The ABC’s Catalyst program is to lose its weekly slot and its 11 staff – including the suspended presenter Maryanne Demasi – will be made redundant under a radical plan approved by the ABC board. But senior ABC program makers have warned that ditching the weekly half-hour program and disbanding the science unit would lead to a dumbing down of science programming and effectively kill off Australian science on television. “By doing this you are saying the ABC TV stops covering science effectively,” one senior ABC program maker told Guardian Australia. ABC management will respond to that review in due course.”The ABC staff union, the Community and Public Sector Union, said it was imperative the ABC maintained its specialist Australian science content. “Catalyst fills a unique and important place in Australian science journalism and we share concerns that a longer-format replacement would mean important and exciting scientific work was ignored.

Source: The Guardian October 31, 2016 01:59 UTC