🔨🗞Fix our broken media laws!
Hundreds of community and regional newspapers have closed their doors. Newsrooms are shutting up shop, or barely hanging on. And hundreds of people at the ABC have lost their jobs.1,2,3 Meanwhile, tech giants Google and Facebook are stronger than ever and the Murdoch Press' dominance is growing every day.
We need change. Because when our media is in crisis, so is our democracy. Right now, a critical Senate inquiry is scrutinising our media laws. But we have to keep up the pressure.
Will you sign the petition calling for urgent intervention to fix our media laws now?
We need urgent action to save our media industry. We're calling on the Government to invest in public interest journalism and ensure regulation supports a diverse media – and not just Murdoch, Google, and Facebook.
Add your name to the petition now!
The Media Bargaining Code, explainedThe ABC just signed a deal making Google and Facebook pay for its content. Here's why that news isn't quite as good as it sounds👇
Posted by GetUp! on Thursday, 27 May 2021
AUSTRALIA'S MEDIA IS IN
CRISIS
Research by Benedetta Brevini and Michael Ward reveals:
- Our media is more concentrated than ever:
- Murdoch Press owns 59% of key print markets:
- Deregulation of media ownership has been designed to serve major media moguls:
- The recent News Bargaining Code will only make media concentration worse:
- It's extremely difficult to find out who owns and controls our media:
The vast majority of Australia's media power sits with two media corporations - News Corp and Nine Entertainment – giving them excessive political and ideological influence.
News Corp, which is owned by the Murdoch Press, is the unchallenged dominant player in almost every media market. Their power extends into digital news, radio, and television, adding up to a dangerous amount.
Australia's very last controls on excessive media ownership were removed in 2017 after years of lobbying by powerful media executives.
The Code was designed to increase the economic power of major corporations like News Corp, leaving smaller media companies struggling to compete.
A systematic lack of transparency plagues our media sector, making critical information about who owns and controls the media extremely difficult to access. This makes it even harder to hold owners of media corporations to account for their actions.
'Who controls our media? The impact of media concentration on our democracy', GetUp. 12 April 2021.
Without urgent intervention, Australia's media and our democracy may never recover. This report makes clear recommendations for reform, including:
- Enhancing the legislative scope and authority of the Australian Communications and Media Authority;
- Overhauling media regulation changes that have effectively entrenched media concentration;
- Reintroducing caps on media ownership in geographical markets; and
- Increasing public investment in news journalism.
It's important our representatives push for these changes. Can you demand they do so today?
Download the report here or read below.
[2] 'AAP Newswire saved but jobs to be lost in slimmed-down operation', The Guardian, 5 June 2020
[3] 'ABC pushes ahead with job cuts in 'arduous year'', SMH, 9 June 2020
[4] ''FactCheck: is Australia's level of media ownership concentration one of the highest in the world?' The Conversation, 12 December 2016
[5] 'Tech giants 'disappointed' by government's move to make them pay publishers'', SMH, 20 April 2020
[6] ''FactCheck: is Australia's level of media ownership concentration one of the highest in the world?' The Conversation, 12 December 2016
[7] 'Media interests snapshot', ACMA
✍️ SIGN THE PETITION
Dear Prime Minister Morrison and Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher,
We call on the federal government to protect a diverse, strong, and independent media landscape. We urgently need to reform our existing media ownership laws, and introduce mechanisms to better support independent and regional journalism.