2024-10-10
The Greens have criticised Labor and Liberal for failing to back a Royal Commission into Australian Media labelling them “Murdoch cowards.” Today, a Senate Inquiry report into the Murdoch media was tabled in Parliament as Australia’s media ownership concentration slips further to now rank 2nd-worst in the world.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is Greens spokesperson for Communications:
“Public interest journalism is critical for democracy, but Australia now ranks 2nd worst in the world for media diversity and the Government is failing to deliver the comprehensive media reforms needed.
“I’m concerned we are seeing a rising distrust in news media as the Murdoch empire continues to undermine quality journalism and democracy in Australia and abroad.
“The Murdoch media’s litany of biassed campaigns diminish Australian journalism as a profession and regularly fail to meet the basic standards enumerated in the Journalist Code of Ethics.
“In Australia the Murdoch media organisation fuels social division, targets individual women and vulnerable minorities, and delays climate action to prop up fossil fuels. Abroad, Fox News’ role in the Dominion voting scandal and the UK phone hacking scandals are a matter of public record.”
New revenue, regulations needed for public interest journalism:
“Comprehensive media reform in Australia is well overdue and a Commission of Inquiry would have been a sensible pathway to get the job done. It is disappointing that neither Labor nor Liberal are prepared to tackle these issues.
“Public interest journalism and the health of our democracy continues to be eroded each and every day the Government fails to deliver real media reform. The Government response to Meta’s threats to the News Media Bargaining Code remains unresolved, media regulations for the digital era are either non-existent or out of date, and funding for small and independent news agencies remains in limbo.
“As big tech corporations continue to cannibalise public interest journalism it’s clear we need to ensure a fair share of the revenue sucked up by social media platforms is invested back in the news and content they take for free. After a decade of Coalition cuts to the ABC and SBS, full funding has still not been restored and public broadcasters remain vulnerable to political attack and influence.”