How has the high concentration of media ownership in Australia impacted this function of the media in the political system?
Australia’s level of media ownership concentration is already one of the highest in the world. – Shadow minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, press release, November 8, 2016. Show
The government’s Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Media Reform) Bill 2016 proposes cutting a rule that stops commercial TV networks from broadcasting to more than 75% of Australians. The House of Representatives passed the bill, which will now go to the Senate. Labor has said it supports repealing the 75% reach rule but opposes changing the “two-out-of-three rule”, which prevents companies from holding a controlling interest in more than two firms that operate television broadcasting, radio broadcasting or newspaper publishing in the same region. Labor’s shadow minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, said repealing the two-out-of-three rule would reduce “the diversity of voices across the media landscape”. She said Australia’s level of media ownership concentration is already one of the highest in the world. Is that true? Checking the sourceWhen asked for a source to support her assertion, a spokesman for Michelle Rowland sent The Conversation a detailed response drawing from a wide range of sources, including the 2012 Finkelstein inquiry into media and media regulation. That inquiry’s report noted that:
You can read the full response here. Rowland’s assertion that Australia’s media ownership concentration is among the highest in the world is well supported by a range of credible sources, some of which will be expanded upon below. As this infographic from the Australian Communications and Media Authority shows, a handful of corporations and interconnected family interests control much of Australia’s media: Media Interests Snapshot, ACMA, current at October 2016. Australian Communications and Media AuthorityNewspapersNewspaper ownership in Australia is particularly concentrated. The Australian section of the University of Oxford’s Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2016, which covers 26 countries, said that:
Market research firm IBISWorld noted in June 2016 that:
New Zealand researchers told a New Zealand commission considering a proposed merger between NZME Limited and Fairfax NZ that only five countries have one owner with more than 50% ownership of the daily newspaper market, and that Australia was one of them: The data in this table was drawn from an international study led by US scholar Eli Noam. This study found that Australian newspaper circulation was the most concentrated of 26 countries surveyed, and among the most concentrated in the democratic world. In the the 2014 book Companion to the Australian Media, I wrote that News Corp Australia, Fairfax Media and APN News and Media together hold the vast majority of the sector. By contrast, people in the US can choose from a broader range of media controlled by a bigger pool of firms. The UK market, criticised by media reform activists for its level of concentration, is also less concentrated than Australia’s. It is important to distinguish between media ownership and circulation, a problem former prime minister Kevin Rudd ran into when he incorrectly said in 2013 that Rupert Murdoch owns 70% of the newspapers in Australia. In fact, he was closer to the mark on the circulation of News Corp Australia’s capital city and daily newspaper titles. A steady decline in newspaper titles since 1900In 1903, there were 21 daily newspapers across Australia’s eight capital cities, and 17 different owners. By the 1950s, there had been a gradual consolidation to 15 daily newspapers and ten owners. As IBISWorld noted in 2016, there are now ten metropolitan or state-wide newspapers are published in Australia. News Australia and Fairfax Media own these newspapers, with the exception of The West Australian, which is owned by Seven West Media. In 2015, News Corporation took a 14.99% stake in APN News and Media – a nominal .01% below the point that it’s deemed to be a “controlling interest” under Australia’s media ownership laws. This further increased News Corp’s print media ownership. TV and radioA June 2016 report on Australian free-to-air TV broadcasting by market research firm IBISWorld said:
The report said that the four largest players in the local free-to-air TV industry, Seven West Media, Nine Entertainment, Ten Network Holdings and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, are estimated to account for more than 70% of total revenue (including both advertising and government funding) in 2015-16. The other significant players are SBS and commercial network affiliates Prime Media, WIN Corporation and Southern Cross Media, the report said. Another IBISWorld report on the Australian radio industry said in 2016 that:
In 2015, Fairfax bought a 54.5% interest in Macquarie Radio Network. Online and pay TVBack in 2011, the Centre for Policy Development reported that Australians regularly look at 12 websites that could be classified as “news based”, saying that: Where did Australians seek their online news in 2011? Centre for Policy Development report -- Media Ownership and Regulation in Australia While those websites remain important, new sites have entered the market in recent years – and no outlet can safely assume readers will go to their homepage to read the news. Instead, as the Digital News Report 2016 showed, many Australians are turning to social networks such as Facebook or search engines like Google first to find out the latest news. How people around the world discover news online is changing. Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2016, CC BYNews Corp owns controlling stakes in Foxtel – which has a monopoly in the pay TV market – and Sky News, which is carried by Foxtel. VerdictMichelle Rowland was correct. A number of reputable sources show that the concentration of media ownership in Australia is one of the highest in the world. – Tim Dwyer. ReviewThis FactCheck author has produced an accurate, fair and impartial account of the facts on this matter. It follows that the verdict is correct. This assessment applies both to the absolute degree of media concentration in Australia and to the comparison with the rest of the world. – Denis Muller. Have you ever seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at [email protected]. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible. How does the concentration of media ownership affect media content?The concentration of media ownership is commonly regarded as one of the crucial aspects reducing media pluralism. A high concentration of the media market increases the chances to reduce the plurality of political, cultural and social points of views.
How is media ownership determined in Australia?Controls over media ownership in Australia are laid down in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, administered by the ACMA. Even with laws in place Australia has a high concentration of media ownership compared to other western countries.
What is the concentration of Australia's media ownership in comparison to other countries?Australia had the 10th most concentrated content media industry by this measure, and was very close to the global average. It is also worth pointing out that the media of several of the countries that ranked more highly are largely state-owned, such as in China and Egypt.
How does the Australian government regulate media?The Australian Press Council 'is the principal body with responsibility for responding to complaints about Australian newspapers, magazines and associated digital outlets', although there are other industry regulators, such as the Independent Media Council, which has a code of conduct for print and online print media ...
|