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The US Mainstream Media is Out of Control - The Liberty Web English
Pressure is on Labor and crossbenchers to pass Coalition media reforms.
A rare mass gatheringof media chief executives will bein chilly Canberra on Wednesday puttingthe heat on Labor andcrossbenchers to passthe government's proposed media reforms without amendments.
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Australia's media ownership laws are due for an update, and the media barons are set to benefit.
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Low wage rises and high household debt are adding to the risk of a negative first quarter.
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The stand out listings traded on the ASX captured at key moments through the day, as indicated by the time stamp in the video.
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The ACCC has launched federal proceedings against health fund NIB, accusing it of concealing changes to some of its policies. Vision courtesy ABC News
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Three men were trapped in a cherry-picker when it fell into a building site in Geelong.
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Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan has provided an update on the $165 million tax fraud syndicate involving the son of a deputy Commissioner.
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For the first time in more than 25 years, the ratings agency Moody's has downgraded China's debt rating.
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The airline has started to clear the backlog of stranded passengers after a global computer system failure left planes grounded at Britain's two biggest airports on Sunday.
Australia's media ownership laws are due for an update, and the media barons are set to benefit.
Having successfully argued for more cuts to broadcast licence fees and accepted restrictions on gambling ads, the companieswant to keep up the momentum for change.
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has proposed a basket of reforms that enjoys total industry support, but does not yet have enough senatorial support.
Newspaper, television and radio executives will argue reform is vital for survival at a time when more and more eyeballs and advertising revenue are going to unregulated online sites.
They do not see a sustainable future for all of Australia's existing media companies, and say concentration will occur eitherthrough legal mergers or corporate collapse.
While industry is united, the move to scrapcross-ownership rules has attracted objections from Labor, Greensand One Nation.
Minister Fifield is still sevenvotes short of getting the bill through the Senate. But he will succeed ifeither Nick Xenophon or Pauline Hanson and theirparties vote with the Coalition.
The big sticking point is scrapping the two-out-of-three rule, which stops one entity owning print, radioand television in one city.
One Nation is concerned removing therestriction will lead to "monopoly control of media distribution in a single region".
Senator Xenophonhas hinted he may support the laws if it includes some tax or levy on Facebook and Google, which profit from all the content created by other companies.
There are still restrictions stopping one entity owning more than one television or two radio stations, and some rules about having at least five independent companies in cities and four in regional areas.
But Labor, which introduced the two-out-of-three rule in the 1980s, is still worried its removal will reduce voices and ideas.
"The widely acknowledged fact is that removing the two-out-of-three rule will lead to further media consolidation and, consequently, a reduction in diversity of media control in Australia," opposition communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland said.
The Greenswill propose splitting the bill to protectthe two-out-of-three rule, said senatorScott Ludlam, communications spokesman.
"We are not really here to advocate for the corporate interest, but protecting the public interest as much as possible," he added.
But most parties are happy to pass what is known as the reach rule, which currently prevents metro networks like Seven, Nine and Tenfrom owning regional broadcastersSouthern Cross, Prime and WIN. These are themost likely mergers if the laws passas there is potential to immediately save money on back-office costs like administration, legal fees, broadcasting facilitiesand affiliation fees.
There are less obvious savings in merging mastheads and broadcasters, except that both produce news content. News Corp has successfully merged some editorial content from pay TV service Sky News with mastheads, with several columnists and journalists appearing on both. But Fairfax Media (publisher of BusinessDay) has very little editorial overlap between mastheads like The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, with its part-owned radio stations 2GB and 3AW.
Chief executive of regional broadcasterWIN Television,Andrew Lancaster, believes Australians are getting so much news from online sources that the reach rule and two-out-of-three are now irrelevant.
"The best way to protect diversity is by having healthy, viable media companies," he said.
But whether Australians see the online outlets such asThe Guardian,BuzzFeed, TheNew York Times,CrikeyandHuffingtonPost as equal to the task of today's newspapers, radioand television stations is yet to be seen.
Professor of communication at Deakin University, Matthew Ricketson, said industry consolidation is the most likely impact of the rules passing as an entire package.
The worst outcome from the new laws would be "ownership of the media in an already concentrated market for newspapers, radio and television will becomingeven more concentrated", he said.
"The diversity provided by the internet is diversity of opinion. That is not the same as diversity of sources of news and current affairs reporting," he added.
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Is Australia ready to scrap its 30-year-old media cross-ownership laws? - The Sydney Morning Herald
The Courier-Journal | Matt Bevin's media policy: Ignore reporters and control the message The Courier-Journal That streak is an example of how Bevin's administration has largely shut out some of the state's major media outlets, including the Courier-Journal. The governor's communications director, Amanda Stamper, and his press secretary, Woody Maglinger, often ... |
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Matt Bevin's media policy: Ignore reporters and control the message - The Courier-Journal
XDA Developers (blog) | Chromecast's Media Control Notification Can be Disabled Soon XDA Developers (blog) A while back, Google added a new feature to their Chromecast/Google Cast technology that would make a notification with media controls appear when you played something on a Chromecast or Google Home device. While definitely a convenience for some, ... |
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Chromecast's Media Control Notification Can be Disabled Soon - XDA Developers (blog)
This statement was originally published on misa.org on 24 May 2017.
A new Board of Censors has been put in place to regulate and control the media and film industry in the digital era.
According to The Herald edition of 24 May 2017, the Minister of Home Affairs, Ignatius Chombo, made the appointment in terms of the Censorship and Entertainment Controls Act.
The minister said while the Constitution provides for free artistic expression, cultural beliefs and association, in the same vein, the board's constitutional responsibility to ensure these same freedoms are reasonably limited to curb infringement of other people's rights.
MISA-Zimbabwe's position
While the minister said the new board had been entrusted with safeguarding people's rights and trusts, this can only be achieved by amending or repealing offensive sections of the act which are inconsistent with the country's 2013 Constitution.
Some of the objectionable provisions on the regulation, censorship or state-control of the mass media and other forms of private or public entertainment, fall under Sections 13 and 14 of the act.
For instance, Section 13 makes use of wide and subjective parameters in the constitution of offences pertaining to pictures, statutes or publication of material that is indecent, obscene and offensive as undesirable content to public morals.
The determination of what is indecent and offensive is not clearly defined. This leaves the Censorship Board with wide and unfettered discretion on what is undesirable as provided for under Section 14. The board's powers should be narrowed to at least match the limitations that are spelt out in the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Sections 13 and 14 of the act should therefore be repealed as they are inconsistent with constitutional rights to freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information and other regional and international instruments voluntarily ratified by Zimbabwe.
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New censorship board in Zimbabwe to "regulate and control" media - IFEX