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Australian Media: Do we need another cross-media reform? Is there too much bias?

• With the recent news on News Corp and Murdoch breaking in the UK and the US, perhaps it is time we had a look at cross-media laws in Australia. Murdoch fought for Australia to change its policies on cross-media ownership, and was able to do so finally in 2006 under a Liberal-National government (one that he supported in his newspapers). News should be unbiased information, designed to allow responders to form their own opinion. Is this process actually happening in Australia? The Daily Telegraph in Sydney certainly has very biased views, and there is no 'balancing force' so to speak (not that we want one, because another extremely opinionated 'newspaper' is the last thing we need). This is reminiscent of the kind if news I used to get in China, propaganda and opinion mixed in with stories, focus on the types of stories that they wish to influence people on, and downright hearsay/misinformation being used to make the point. Media Watch revealed documents targeting government policy (in fact, Murdoch was willing to sell support for policies on his newspaper for $500,000), and targeting marginal seats (who are very vulnerable to media influence). I've compiled a list of News Limited (News Corp)'s publications in Australia. It's almost impossible to see how we could be getting non-biased news. Is our public opinion being formed? And is it too late to wean ourselves off the satisfaction of seeing opinionated news? Do we really prefer olds/what we know to new, confronting information? If not, should we see a move back to cross-media ownership laws being more stringent again? I see no benefit to a free and unbiased press that allows massive cross-media ownership. How would this lead to a more open and free expression in the media? It seems more like a political deal struck for future policy support to me, though it's hard to know for certain. News Limited publications in Australia alone: Web: News.com.au National:The Australian including weekly insert magazine The Deal and monthly insert magazine (wish), The Weekend Australian including insert magazine The Weekend Australian Magazine, Australian Associated Press (45%) State Capitals: The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph including insert magazine sundaymagazine, mX (Sydney), Herald Sun, Sunday Herald Sun including insert magazine sundaymagazine, mX (Melbourne), The Courier-Mail including weekly insert magazine QWeekend, The Sunday Mail, The Advertiser including the monthly insert the Adelaide* magazinem Sunday Mail, The Sunday Times, The Mercury, The Sunday Tasmanian, Northern Territory News, The Sunday Territorian Community papers: Cumberland-Courier Community Newspapers, Inner West Courier, North Shore Times, The Manly Daily, Leader (Vic) newspapers, Quest (QLD) newspapers, Messenger (SA) newspapers, Community (WA) newspapers Regional: Victoria, Geelong Advertiser, Geelong News, Queensland, Gold Coast Bulletin, Tablelands Advertiser, The Cairns Post, Townsville Bulletin Magazines: Big League, GQ Australia, Vogue Australia Bottom-line: Are we being influenced too much by a one-sided media? Watching ABC News 24, then switching over to say Sky News, and suddenly the coverage is very different. There is a very careful way that things are written and said, even amongst the non-affiliated television stations. Are they so afraid of backlash from Murdoch presses? Should they be? Is it good for us to have a centralised press under News Corp? If so, why? If not, how should we be fighting for a more balanced representation of issues in our newspapers, given that News Corp has so much advertising power?

• Answer:

  Incorrect. The bottom line is to make money. Unfortunately drama and biased news makes more money. And another unfortunate is that many people are drawn to bias and can't distinguish the fiction from truth.