Cost of Q&A compromise to ABC independence remains to be seen

'It is the ABC’s independence from government that shapes the ABC as a public broadcaster, not a state broadcaster', commented the ABC's 2015 Managing Director Mark Scott. But has this independence been compromised with recent governmental interference after the Zaky Mallah incident on live ABC TV's Q&A? Dr Virginia Madsen explores the history of the ABC and public service broadcasting revealing battles lost and won around censorship, concessions made in times of crisis, and independence compromised or overturned.