The executive producer of ABC’s current affairs program Four Corners, Bruce Belsham has been appointed as the new editor of abc.net.au.
Belsham has been executive producer of Four Corners since 2000. His desire to extend Four Corners’ beyond its traditional television broadcast led to the development of the award winning Four Corners Broadband Editions, an achievement that is likely to have held some sway in the process which led to the securing of his new role at the network.
“I am delighted abc.net.au will be led by Bruce Belsham, a man with a great record of editorial leadership and a desire to explore new ways of engaging ABC audiences,” said the director of ABC Innovation, Ian Carroll. “He will provide the leadership for the next stage of the ABC’s online development at a time when we face increasing competition and where content must be king.”
Prior to joining Four Corners, Belsham had extensive experience in the film and television industries, with numerous production and writing credits. As an early precursor to his later development of interactive content, a CD-Rom was produced for his major series Frontier (1997) tracing the history of race relations in colonial Australia. The series’ online presence also introduced the ABC’s first live online forum.
“The future of public broadcasting is online,” said Belsham. “I can’t predict whether that future will be as Internet Protocol television (IPTV), video on demand or technology we haven’t dreamt of yet, but it’s the place where we will build and retain audiences for the long term.”
