The new managing director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Mark Scott, has issued sweeping new editorial policies that extend beyond news and current affairs programming.

Scott says the new policies were the product of lengthy discussion involving staff, management and the Board. The ABC’s editorial policies were last changed in June 2005.

“It is vital as a public broadcaster that the ABC set higher standards for itself than any other media organisation in Australia,” Scott says. “The revised editorial policies are the most significant statement of values the ABC has made in over 20 years, giving greater emphasis to the need for impartiality in the ABC’s coverage of contentious matters.”

The new policies focus on three areas. They now require the ABC to demonstrate impartiality at the platform level (that is, the individual television or radio network, or at ABC Online) for opinion, topical and factual content. The ABC must provide audiences with a range of different perspectives on the subject under consideration.

A new content category, “opinion”, is being acknowledged as part of ABC content. It is defined as content presented from a particular point of view about a matter of public contention. Opinion content will be signposted and the requirement for impartiality will mean a range of views must be presented over time.

Finally, the ABC has created a new position, director of ABC editorial policies – a post which has been quickly dubbed “chief censor” by critics of this latest change. The director of editorial policies will report to the managing director, who is also editor-in-chief. The director will provide independent assessment of editorial performance.

Training sessions for ABC staff in the new editorial policies will be rolled out to March next year.

Meanwhile, outgoing ABC chairman Donald McDonald has called for “eternal vigilance” to protect the broadcaster from political  interference.

“The continuing challenge for all media organisations lies in dealing with the urge of governments to try to control the narrative – an urge that has now been professionalised to a very high degree – to see that every story puts them in the best possible light... What would worry me is if the ABC ever buckled to it, fell silent or self-censored in any way, or allowed that influence to be felt through timidity.”