Tim Bowden, ABC journalist and historian, hosted a television program called BackChat between 1987 and 1994. Viewers could write in with their comments on Aunty’s offerings. One correspondent criticised the Rob Sitch-inspired spoof of the commercial current affairs programs, Frontline. The correspondent was appalled that the ABC could waste taxpayers’ money on a program that was such a poor example of critical journalism. Bowden, po-faced as ever, recalled some advice from an old hand when he was starting out in journalism: ‘Never give them satire, they’ll think it’s the real thing.’