IS OUR MEDIA TRULY INDEPENDENT?

How much influence does private ownership in the media have on reporting? In Australia we have two major newspaper companies; News Ltd and Fairfax. News Ltd is famously owned by Rupert Murdoch, who owns a number of other media companies around the world. Much criticism is directed at the publications in his stables for being too right leaning and conservative. This implies that Murdoch influences the content and opinion which flows into his newspapers.

Mining magnate (why is one a tycoon and one a magnate?) Gina Rinehart earlier this year purchased 15% of Fairfax (publishing company for The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review among others). At a time when many people are questioning the tax incentives and disincentives handed to the lucrative mining sector, is it beyond the pale to think maybe Gina is trying to push her agenda on a supposedly unbiased media platform?

It could simply be another in a long list of shrewd financial investments... or as many have speculated, a cynical attempt to place tighter controls on media interpretation of her business deals.

Realistically, you and I can only speculate. How can we truly claim to know the motives behind this type of action?

If it is the latter, then I guess the next question is; Will it actually work? I’m not entirely certain the top journalists this country has to offer working at the largest news corporations are as weak-willed as we would believe. How much top-down influence would a proud journo be willing to absorb?

In any case, too much biased writing would be bad for business – and surely readers would vote with their feet. Particularly at Fairfax newspapers where much of the content and readership is known to be left-leaning. One would imagine that if the narrative of the opinion articles started to become uncharacteristically supportive of tax support for multi-billion dollar mining companies!

Click here to some in-depth analysis from Australian analysts.

But it begs the question; What do we expect from our journalists in terms of standards of fairness/honesty? What level of scrutiny do we naturally apply to the impartiality of the media? And how do we scrutinise it?

Media Watch is a television staple on the ABC but there have recently been allegations that even they do not apply the same standard on themselves as they do on others. Please have a read here for evidence; http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/taking-a-swipe-at-fairfax-media-watch-ditches-its-own-standards-20120905-25emu.html

We query the deteriorating amount of in-depth analysis and investigation which occurs in the digital age of the media. It’s probably about time we also started asking who is analysing the media. How involved is our government in cracking down on foreign media ownership? And at nullifying personal interest attempts to skew a supposedly impartial media schedule?

There are so many forms and sources of media and information these days, and the big boys like Fairfax are leading the way. Isn’t it time we invested in keeping them honest?