PressEthic

The Australian parliament has passed a new law that cancels a prior law restricting foreign ownership and cross-media ownership of media organizations in that country. This abandonment of restrictions has stimulated a stock-purchasing frenzy. The Australian equivalent of five billion American dollars has been traded in three days.

Organizations like the International Freedom of Expression eXchange are worried that this new arrangement "undermines media diversity by encouraging concentration."

From the eXchange:

The laws would permit the number of media "voices" in a city media market to be reduced to five, and in regions to four - currently there are between 13 and 11 major media owners in the two major cities of Sydney and Melbourne respectively.

The most recent sharetrading activity came yesterday when Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation spent $A360 million buying a 7.5% stake in newspaper rival Fairfax Media - a company which is seen as vulnerable to takeover under the new laws.

The new law has not even been implemented yet, and there has been an astonishingly high amount of trading.

Aidan White, general secretary of the IFJ, says:

Australia already has the highest concentration of media ownership in the developed world...The new laws are not even in operation and already media diversity is being undermined...If laws lead to fewer voices in a media landscape then that is an attack on the right to freedom of expression.

What are the consequences of such a massive downsizing of Australian media?

Certainly fewer Australian journalists would draw a salary, and public access to a multitude of opinions would be limited.

Is this an example of a global trend, where financial considerations are simply more important than providing a diverse array of commentary and perspective? Of course they are, for investors. But how is the listening community affected?

The internet community has the potential to become the dominant forum for media proliferation and diversity. If only everybody had access. A better-connected world might just be the panacea for the ills of the shrinking industry. Easier said than done.