Senator Andrew Murray
Democrats Senator for Western Australia
Australian Democrats spokesperson for Taxation, Finance & Corporate Affairs
| Dated: 28 September 2005
Portfolio: Taxation, Finance & Corporate Affairs
| More from Senator Andrew Murray on Taxation, Finance & Corporate Affairs
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If Media Diversity is Good For Democracy Why is it Bad for Howard?
| The Australian Democrats said that reports today that the Prime Minister will not support reforms to improve media diversity are surprising.
"Media diversity is good for democracy and good for competition. Why does Mr Howard think they are bad for him?" said Democrats' Corporate Affairs spokesperson, Senator Andrew Murray.
"Just changing cross-media ownership rules and lifting foreign ownership restrictions may notionally increase competition but it is not likely to increase the diversity of views and voices.
"Dropping reforms that would go some way to facilitating diversity is unwise. While the internet and the digital age have given rise to multiple sources of independent media, according to the 2004 AEC election study, only 12.2% of people used the internet to get news about the 2004 election, and only 3.3% did so frequently. This leaves a lot who relied on traditional media sources.
"The reality is the majority of people still get their views from traditional sources of media, predominantly TV and newspapers. Further concentration of power in these two mediums would be devastating. Democracy works best with a strong and diverse fourth estate, imbued with the public interest and not just commercially driven."
Senator Murray said if we are to have a fair and open society, this Government must pursue policies to increase diversity of views and voices; improve use and access to new technology (digital, broadband); ensure open access to media content; ensure there is an adequate level of local and Australian content; and protect the independence and freedom of journalists and the media.
"The Democrats will be holding a roundtable on media reform and diversity next week in Parliament House. We will use the outcomes of this to launch a public campaign to help pressure the Government on media reform," concluded Senator Murray.
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