Hugh Marks will replace David Anderson as Managing Director of the ABC, beginning in March next year.
The Former Nine Entertainment chief executive has signalled the national broadcaster will need to “make choices” about its priorities to maintain the quality of its news and programs.
Marks has experience in managing large broadcast companies and oversaw the merger of Nine Entertainment’s television network with Fairfax Media’s newspaper and radio platforms in 2018.
In an interview on ABC Radio Sydney, ABC Chair Kim Williams said the new managing director will bring “a strong history of innovation in online delivery” to the organisation as it considers the best ways to bring news, current affairs, light entertainment and drama to Australians. He said he wants the new MD to “understand the broadcaster from the inside.”
“I would hope that Hugh is a very keen listener and that he gets to know the organisation from the inside rather than purely having an external viewpoint.”
Williams believes balance is important for the national broadcaster: “In the media we’ve tended to fall into a pattern of choosing extreme voices from two sides of a debate … I think we need to do a better job of getting informed voices. A bit more policy, a lot less politics, and really illuminating issues rather than debating the extremes.”
Hugh Marks is “energised” about leading the ABC, given its “unique position” in Australia’s media landscape.
“All Australians, when they want to know the truth, or the facts, or at least the different perspectives on an issue so that they’re informed, know that they can come to the ABC and trust that it’s that place that they’re going to get [that].”
Marks says his top priorities will be the need for the ABC to focus its efforts on areas of excellence and not spread itself too thinly.
Hugh Marks comes to the ABC after nearly three years at Dreamchaser – a contemporary Australian content studio he co-founded and co-led, which partners with Australia’s leading creators to develop, finance, produce, and distribute premium content across all genres for the global film and television market.
He was previously CEO of Nine Entertainment which grew from an $800 million television network into a more than $5 billion predominantly digital, modern media business in a declining advertising market under his nearly six-year leadership.
Addressing the report that exposed a culture of harassment and bullying at Channel Nine before, during and after his tenure as CEO, Marks said he had been unaware of the alleged behaviour and the details had “been a shock.”
“I guess my reflection on that particular issue is an understanding of how hard it is for complainants to make a complaint… I think having been through that experience, I can see how I can do a much better job at getting down into the organisation and hearing what’s going on and understanding how important that is and making sure that’s a priority.”
Hugh Marks resigned from Nine Entertainment in late 2020 after disclosing that he was in a relationship with a member of his leadership team, who had already left the company. He was CEO at Nine for 5 years and led the company through a period of change and innovation.