Media package fails to address broad reform

The media reforms introduced by the Turnbull Government are too much about fighting old analog wars and will do nothing to promote greater diversity of voices in the Australian media landscape. In many cases they may actually lead to a greater concentration of ownership.

MEAA CEO Paul Murphy said: “While it’s true existing laws have become increasingly ineffective in the face of new platforms, simply removing them is not the right response.

“The starting point for reform should be building a regulatory environment that encourages and supports new entrants to exploit the opportunity of digital technology and improve the vibrancy and diversity of our media landscape, not just responding to the business challenges of the existing major players.”

MEAA is still examining the details of the legislation that has been tabled and will be making a submission to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee’s examination of it.

“There may well be a good case for removal of the reach rule now," Murphy said. “However we are much more sceptical of the case to remove the two-out-of-three rule.

“And fundamentally we want Government to look at reform much more broadly.”

There have been many inquiries in this area. The Convergence Review in particular took a wide-ranging view of the changes happening in media, and the challenges and opportunities that might present.

“Neither the disastrous package introduced by the previous Government, nor the legislation tabled now, address in any way the full breadth of the challenges and opportunities in media. We can only hope for better,” Murphy said.