The brutal reality is that Australia’s media is broken and policy tinkering will not help
Julianne Schultz Guardian Media – Sat 16 Mar 2024 .
When the owner of the the Cairns Post opened a new office for his newspaper in 1908 he aimed high. Such was the ambition in far north Queensland in the newly federated Australia, that columns topped with scrolls seemed unremarkable. Cairns was driven, the paper thundered, it did not “want a pawnbroking, huckstering policy of the slow-and-go-easy style”.
This decline accelerated when the pandemic began. News Corp spent decades hoovering up papers in Queensland but then closed 15, digitised and scaled back 96 others around the nation. Australian Community Newspapers “retired” 36 mastheads, websites and social media sites.
Australia is no longer a land of newspapers, but one where gossip and misinformation flourish. Australia has set global records for media ownership concentration.
Almost every prime minister since Robert Menzies has shared his assessment that he was constrained by the self-interest of the proprietors.
Therein lies the gritty truth about Australia’s media tradition. It has always been motivated more by commerce than democracy.