The major question following the sacking of ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie is why? Why did the ABC board move so decisively and why now?

Was it just about tension between her and the corporation chair, Justin Milne, or was it about strategic direction for the national broadcaster?

In this special edition of Media Files, Monash University’s Margaret Simons and former ABC staff-elected director Matt Peacock talk to Matthew Ricketson and Andrew Dodd about what it might mean for the ABC - particularly in the lead up to a federal election.

Read more: Constant attacks on the ABC will come back to haunt the Coalition government

Media Files is produced by a team of journalists and academics who have spent decades working in and reporting on the media industry. It’s about how journalists operate, how media policy is changing, and how commercial manoeuvres and digital disruption are affecting the kinds of media and journalism we consume.

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Producer: Andy Hazel.

Additional audio

Theme music by Susie Wilkins.

Read more: Media Files: What does the Nine Fairfax merger mean for diversity and quality journalism?

Andrew Dodd receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is a former ABC employee.

Margaret Simons is working on a book about the ABC. She is a member of the Public Interest Journalism Foundation, a not for profit that advocates on journalism-related issues. She received industry and philanthropic funding for research into journalism futures. It was not from the ABC.

Matthew Ricketson receives funding from the Australian Research Council as a chief investigator on two projects. He was appointed by the federal government in 2011 to assist Ray Finkelstein QC in an Independent Inquiry into the Media and Media Regulation, which reported in 2012. Since 2016 he has been the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance's representative on the Australian Press Council. He is president of the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia.