Chaney backs media probe SUBIACO POST (24 Sep 22)

Australia is like China and Egypt when it comes to newspaper ownership, Kate Chaney says. The Curtin MP said the fact is one of the reasons why she is supporting Victorian MP Zoe Daniel’s motion for a judicial inquiry into Australian media diversity. “A big part of protecting the integrity of our democracy is protecting our institutions – and the media is one of our institutions,” Ms Chaney said. “Australia is third to China and Egypt in newspaper ownership concentration: on data like that it warrants investigation.”

Ms Daniel, a former ABC foreign correspondent and fellow Teal independent, wants the inquiry to have the powers of a royal commission. That would mean it would be able to call witnesses and require the production of documents and information. “According to the Public Interest Journalism Initiative, 255 media outlets across the country closed down between the beginning of 2019 and March 2022, nearly 70 per cent in regional Australia,”

Ms Daniel’s motion says. “One company (News Corp) has a 59 per cent share of the metropolitan and national print media market by readership and the second (Nine Entertainment Co.) 23 per cent. “According to a comprehensive international study of international media ownership and concentration by Columbia University, only Egypt and China have greater concentration of newspaper ownership of the countries studied. “Three thousand journalists lost their jobs in the decade to 2018 and more since then.”

Ms Chaney said the inquiry would also need to examine if media self-regulation by the Australian Press Council and the Australian Media and Communications Authority was effective. The APC is funded by newspapers and magazines; ACMA is an independent Federal Government agency. “It’s up to independent voices to get these issues on the agenda, when there’s no appetite to do so by the major parties,” she said. “Integrity equals diverse voices in our media.”