News has a profound effect on my life. What’s happening both domestically and internationally can shape my daily mood. Because of this, I make it a priority to validate the authenticity and look for neutrality and quality in the media I consume. This has been somewhat of a hot topic over the last decade or so, with media concentration making Australia one of the most oligopolistic media markets in the world. Exposing audiences to condensed and limited ideologies from these media companies (and individuals behind them), whilst making it increasingly harder to locate neutral and unbiased information.
The media industry in Australia is comprised of a series of large brands. The largest, News Corp, Nine, and Seven Media, holding 80% of free to air and subscription revenue, with the remainder being from other smaller, independent brands. We also have hybrid broadcaster, SBS and Commonwealth owned broadcaster, ABC. With my preferred news source being the ABC, consuming via Live TV, iView and their social media outlets on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. I find their content to be very educational and interesting, with a noticeable lack of sales and marketing of products and services. Because of this lack of a "sales approach" as well as the quality people that represent the brand on screen, I place a high level of trust in this source of news media. The Australian Institute also conducted a survey and found that over three times more voters, trust the ABC, contrasted with commercial media sources such as NewsCorp, or Seven Media.
Although the ABC lacks the “sales approach” common to commercial competitors, the board is integrated with the government, raising many ethical and moral issues. The influence of politics on the outlet has been an ongoing issue, claiming it as “the loss of greater good”. Establishing bias and divide, in a platform intended to be neutral, respecting and upholding the values of our society and promoting public interest. Journalist professor Johan Lidberg recommends that the ABC board and member selection process needs to be partitioned from the government (as it once was) and handled by a neutral body. (Lidberg, J. 2019) Limiting the ability for uncontrollable and sometimes unintentional political influence.
Individual or government influence on our media can inhibit the “Public Sphere”, which social theorist Jürgen Habermas defines as the social space where opinions, problems and general concerns are expressed, discussed and resolved. As a vital part of social communication, the public sphere is where innovation develops, where ideologies are expressed, and compromises are made. Without this median, a landscape of divide between progressive and conservative media outlets is growing. (Lidberg, J. 2019) Former PM, Kevin Rudd called the current media concentration a “cancer on our democracy”. Highlighting its ability to influence politics, swerve public opinion and in some cases, also cause physical harm.
Our media landscape is currently heading in a dangerously unregulated direction. It’s important to maintain regulation and diversity within the industry to promote freedom of speech and critical thinking. As media concentration grows, it’s important to support local and independent news sources and publicly owned media. (Lidberg, J. 2019) As the commonwealth cuts more and more funding to ABC, and establishes legislation such as the News Media Bargaining code, which only favours large publishers, we can expect to see diversity lessen more without urgent shifts in regulation of ownership.
