Labor, Greens oppose changes to 2 out of 3 rule.
Govt will now need the support of crossbench senators to pass its Media Reform Bill.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Labor and the Greens are opposed to media reform changes to dump the two out of three rule”.
The long-standing rule prevents a person or company from owning local newspapers, television stations and radio stations in a single city. The reform package proposes scrapping the two out of three rule and a second rule, which prevents a person from exercising control of commercial television broadcasting licences whose total licence area population exceeds 75 per cent of the Australian population.
But a Senate inquiry into the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Media Reform) Bill 2016 found Labor & the Greens opposed it.
“Labor senators oppose the removal of the two out of three rule given this change would achieve so little for industry at potentially great cost to our democracy. There is no compelling evidence to justify its removal,” says Labor’s report.
“We note that media concentration in Australia is amongst the highest in the world and reject this government’s move to make the situation worse.
“Labor senators reject the government’s piecemeal, short-sighted approach to the future of our media industry. The proposed reforms offer no safeguards in terms of diversity of ownership and no coherent vision for the contemporary media ecosystem in terms of the public interest role of the media in the effective functioning of our democracy.”
The Greens’ dissenting report states: “It is our view that the bill should not pass the Parliament unless the schedule abolishing the 2/3 rule is removed from the legislation.”
The government will now need the support of crossbench senators to get the new rules passed, unless it retains the “two out of three rule”.
The report also found licence fees and the anti-siphoning list were separate to the matter of media ownership and control.
Chief executive of Southern Cross Austereo, Grant Blackley, said, “We are very disappointed they have failed to recognise and support the repeal of the two out of three cross media rule which not only pre-dates the internet but also fails to enhance diversity in today’s Australian media.”
Source: Fairfax
4 Responses
Good, I hope they block it. Murdoch has way too much influence in our media, we don’t want to give him any more. He’s a blight on society.
Ironically Murdoch owns newspapers and paytv…..if he wanted to under the current rules, he could still buy TV stations and Radio stations
One could argue that he already has influence over an FTA network (in TEN thanks to Foxtel’s interest) and radio (Nova Entertainment through his son Lachlan). If the Murdoch’s really wanted to exert control, it wouldn’t be too difficult under the current rules.
I hope these changes don’t happen. It still old fashion thinking, that will only benefit the rich. Reform requires a complete rethink that will benefit Australia in the future. Remember at the end of the day, the spectrum is an Australian resource for all Australians . Spectrum Warrior has spoken.