ABC chair Kim Williams has opened up about the fallout from his blunt assessment of the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, revealing he received a torrent of messages, some from tech titan Elon Musk and controversial rapper Kanye West.
Williams’s comments, which were made late last year, saw him suggest the popular podcaster “preyed on people’s vulnerabilities” in a way that was “deeply repulsive”.
The remarks were then picked up by both Rogan and Musk, who voiced their anger on X:
From the head of Australian government-funded media, their Pravda https://t.co/T9KCf6oNbk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2024
Speaking at the Melbourne Press Club, Williams said his comments sparked a global backlash.
“I learnt a lot about pile-ons,” he said. “Within minutes, I had every device in my life consumed with thousands of messages of varying vocabulary. It took over my life.”
While he didn’t share what Musk or West had to say, Williams said some responses were so vile they “paralysed my phone.”
“It took over my life.”
Backing the ABC in a pre-election media moment
Williams also addressed the Coalition’s pre-election pledge to scrutinise ABC funding, after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton floated a review to cut “wasteful government spending.”
Williams welcomed the challenge: “Game on. The ABC is an accountable institution, and I have no doubt it will perform well in any such review.”
He went on to spruik the ABC’s planned Election 2025 coverage, saying it will be “unprecedented” in its “scope and quality”.
“The ABC will harness our network of reporters and radio programs in 67 locations across Australia to find out what really matters to voters,” he said.
Photo: Emily Jagot Kulich/Melbourne Press Club
Williams said the broadcaster is also looking ahead with plans to “support and strengthen Australia’s democratic understanding”, with a major new project launching later this year.
Hosted by Annabel Crabb, the as-yet unnamed three-part documentary series will aim to explain the workings of the nation’s electoral system.
“Few countries in the world can boast an organisation as well run and as trusted as the Australian Electoral Commission,” Williams explained.
“Its old-fashioned use of paper ballots and old-fashioned sense of ethics and integrity make it the best. We all need our people to understand it and to feel proud of it. Because it is genuinely free from even the possibility of political interference,” he said.
Williams then wrapped up his address by highlighting the ABC’s role in safeguarding democracy in the age of disinformation.
“It is foolish in the extreme to believe we will be immune to this global trend,” he said. “We need to flood the zone with truth to prevent others flooding it with lies.”