Debates in Australian parliament are currently focussing on media reforms.
Australian media organisations and commentators are currently anxiously observing the federal government’s proposed media reforms debate.
Proposed media law changes ‘would introduce a new public interest test for media mergers and acquisitions and put in place an advocate to ensure press councils properly uphold standards and deal with complaints’ (The West Australian).
Media has become an intrinsic part of our society and is no longer confined to the evening newspapers. We engage with media in a multitude of ways everyday, whether we are listening to the radio on the bus, flicking through our news feed on Facebook, or even identifying the ‘news’ items which appear automatically during a Google search.
So, what is the role of media in today’s society? Responsibilities of newspaper editors, news broadcast producers and independent factions in terms of their use of the media must be clearly defined. We must develop the skills to navigate the grey area between freedom of speech and factual reporting. Clarity must be brought to the political persuasions of news organisations. Consumers must have the ability to easily access the facts, it must be easy for the consumer to determine who and what to believe.
Is the pen really mightier than the sword, as the classic phrase insists? Meaning, can the media shape events through their portrayal of said events? Quite likely, I would think. It may not necessarily be by directly inciting action, but even by ommittence of information, so the consumer only knows half the facts. This may provoke the consumer to make assumptions and thus form an uneducated opinion. Why should the consumer have to digest a variety of articles on the same event in order to form a picture in their mind of what actually happened?
Such efforts of persuasion we can see are being in some stretch addressed by the Australian Government currently.
In this video, Ray Finkelstein QC tells a Senate Committee (on March 19, 2013) that the Australian Government’s proposed media law changes present only a ‘relatively minor imposition on press freedom and probably no restriction on free speech’.
Thus, the conversation continues. The consumer must question the media, as it is only through exploration of motivation, and audience demands on the content of the information they are presented that the audience may no longer be disadvantaged by their position.
P.s. Thanks Political Beacon for the image.
P.p.s. Thanks ABC News for the video.
