Hidden agendas ?

The Federal government is considering changes to the media ownership rules.  It may dump the present Australian Communications and Media authority and replace it with an independent regulator - to operate at arm's length from government and industry.

No appointee by a government can be said to be truly independent.   Such an authority consists of people - and those picked usually have previously showed some form of affinity to the aims of the government that appoints them.   Such is " the nature of the beast " !

Under the old rules media ownership can only encompass two of the three forms previously available - television - radio - and print media.   Presumably that was to limit a single owner dictating his or her take on politics, religion or any other subject in the editorial of all three media presentations.

This media mix is undergoing rapid change.   In the television segment more free to air stations have come on air and the mix of programmes offered has expanded.   The traditional " daily newspapers " seem to have shrunk in reach - and increased in cost - and now compete with various " free " papers in most areas.   Radio has undergone change from just AM to FM - and now digital has been added to the mix.

The biggest change of all has occurred in the segment competing with traditional media - the internet. Facebook and Twitter have been a phenomenon that just seems to expand indefinitely - and person to person communication is no longer restricted by the borders between countries.
This era of personal communications strikes fear into many forms of government because it has demonstrated it's power to topple dictators and bring change.

For that reason this move to re-establish a new form of media control needs to be viewed with caution. If the real reason is to apply censorship - then there is every reason to oppose such a move.  An " open " society is a " free " society, and one of the first freedoms to go when any oppressive government takes power is the exchange of ideas.

Now is the time to examine this proposal in detail - and to read the fine print and make sure that we dot the i's and cross the t's when it's powers are spelt out.   As citizens of many other world countries would attest -  freedom of speech and ideas is the corner stone of democracy !