All mass media outlets use their viewer share to push their biased views. The difference with Australia's ABC is that the residents are forced to pay for it through taxes.
The strangest thing about the (invariably leftist) supporters of the ABC is that they argue that that we need an independent media organization. This is a weird argument, which is typical of the slippery logic employed by the left.
If the ABC were truly independent then it would not be accountable. If these people think that the ABC (or any other group in society) should be given nearly a billion dollars a year with no accountability? Apparently not - the ABC, the leftists will tell us, has an obligation to meet their charter - to deliver media services which these people regard as appropriate (ie which promote their political philosophy).
In other words they feel that the ABC shouldn't be independent at all.
No group who are funded by others will ever be truly independent. Any bureaucracy will act to ensure its survival, which means acting to continue (or preferably increase) its source funding - which will be at the whim of the individuals or organizations who fund it.
The Left will just continue to describe the ABC as independent as long as the organization promotes their political beliefs.
See