THE QUEENSLAND COUNCIL OF UNIONS’

11 DECEMBER 2020 INTO ‘MEDIA DIVERSITY IN AUSTRALIA’ Probing a private sector INTRODUCTION media monopoly The Queensland Coun- cil of Unions (QCU) is PRINT MEDIA Queensland’s peak union council. In 2016, Newscorp spent more than $36 million to buy APN’s Australian Regional Media, which This submission discusses includes 12 daily newspapers, 60 smaller publi- the impact of media con- cations and more than 30 news websites1. Four centration in Queensland years later, many of those publications have and the potential adverse closed and other century-old mastheads have outcomes that might result. moved to digital-only platforms. The recent Queensland In Queensland, the impact on jobs and news state election is also fresh gathering has been significant. In May 2020, in the minds of those who Newscorp announced 22 regional and 20 com- 2 witnessed yet another cam- munity publications would go to digital only , pendently owned publications, many operated paign for the Liberal Nation- with 15 community newspapers closing com- by former NewsCorp staff, report strong com- al Party on the part of the pletely, with the loss of around 110 journalism munity support for their news gathering and print media in Queensland. jobs. Only the Cairns Post, Townsville Bulletin, advertising. Gold Coast Bulletin and Toowoomba Chronicle The extent of the support for In metropolitan Brisbane there has been only remain as print and online publications. the Queensland Opposition one daily newspaper for several decades. raised the question as to These daily newspapers are no longer printed: The Courier Mail is owned by Newscorp and by whether Newscorp should Mackay Daily Mercury; Rockhampton Morning any independent analysis has long given up any Bulletin; Gladstone Observer; Bundaberg News have been registered as a pretence of providing news but rather appears Mail; Fraser Coast Chronicle; Gympie Times; third party with the Electoral to be engaged in developing and disseminating Sunshine Coast Daily; Queensland Times, and Commission of Queensland. propaganda. Warwick Daily News. This leaves local residents It is not unusual for there to be some level of This state election also saw without a trusted local newspaper to purchase bias within the media, however the line has Clive Palmer’s United Aus- from their newsagent, or to read and share in been crossed by Newscorp which was recently tralia Party unsuccessfully their local gathering place. described by former Prime Minister Malcolm attempt to promulgate an When ACCC approved the sale of ARM to Turnbull “tended to lean more right than left to outright lie throughout the Newscorp in 2016, it ignored concerns of dimin- become pure propaganda”3. election campaign. ished news competition between the state’s Turnbull went on to compare Newscorp to the main masthead The Courier Mail and regional That is that the Palaszczuk Guardian as an example of an outlet that he dailies. Government would intro- might describe as being more left-leaning than duce a death tax if re-elect- After the print edition closures, enterprises in right. The difference, Turnbull said, is that the ed. regional Queensland had fewer outlets in which Guardian would never run a protection racket Thankfully this campaign to advertise, and lost those potential customers for its preferred side of politics as is being sug- was so lacking in credibility who only consumed news in printed form. gested about Newscorp. that it appears it did not Fortunately, these regional communities This obvious bias is of particular concern in influence the outcome of refused to submit to Newscorp’s corporate Queensland when one considers the significant the election. agenda to cut costs at the expense of providing role that the Courier Mail played in highlighting local news in accessible formats. A number of and reporting upon the corruption that would In this context of both the alternative publications have sprung up during lead to the Fitzgerald Inquiry4. mainstream media and 2020 in print and online format in regional social media allowing this The Fitzgerald Inquiry found widespread and Queensland centres, reflecting the commu- systematic corruption within the Queensland disinformation to be perpet- nity willingness to support local newsgather- Police Service that involved high ranking politi- uated, it is difficult to recon- ing and printing. These include independent cians including Ministers of the Bjelke-Petersen cile how the public interest weekly-printed publications in Warwick and Government. Momentum gathered towards the is served. Stanthorpe (Southern Free Times), Rockhamp- eventual inquiry that brought about an end to This submission concludes ton and Gladstone in Central Queensland (CQ this widespread corruption and created insti- with the terms of reference Today), the Burnett Valley (South Burnett Today tutions and a culture to prevent it from occur- set for the Senate Environ- and Central & North Burnett Today), Bundaberg ring again. None of this would have occurred ment and Communications (Bundaberg Today), Gympie (Gympie Today) and without the initial work that was done by Courier the Sunshine Coast (Noosa Today). These inde- References Committee. Mail journalists. SUBMISSION INTO MEDIA DIVERSITY IN AUSTRALIA

The QCU Response to the Committee’s Terms of Reference Why the ABC needs funding a. the current state of public interest journalism in Australia and any barriers to Australian voters’ ability to access reliable, accurate and indepen- security and independence dent news; Our ABC obvious from the Committee report Concentration of ownership appears to be detri- that they impacted upon decisions Aside from the historical role played mental to public interest journalism. The concern made by the ABC. It is also obvious in the discovery and eventual de- with the current level of media bias is that not only that the cuts to the ABC budget have feat of corruption in the example of for the potential impact on democratic processes led to loss of employment of skilled the Fitzgerald Inquiry, the Australian but also for the potential to cover up or gloss over journalists and reduced the services Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) pro- misconduct on the part of the media’s preferred that the ABC can offer in regional vides an essential service particularly side of politics. Queensland7. Funding security for the for regional areas. Recent disasters ABC in the absence of any suggestion b. the effect of media concentration on democracy have demonstrated the utility of the of political interference is essential for in Australia; ABC on that level alone5. As outlined above. the ABC to operate to address market However, the palpable bias that is c. the impact of Australia’s media ownership laws failures in the mainstream media. demonstrated by privately owned on media concentration in Australia; As if on cue, as this submission was media can be to some extent count- Clearly current laws have presented challenges to being written, news was breaking of er-balanced by the ABC. There does encourage diversity in print media in Queensland the further intimidation of the ABC appear to be a concerted effort to (see over). Chair Ita Buttrose because of recent undermine the ABC in terms of its d. the impact of significant changes to media revelations concerning the behaviour independence and capacity. The at- business models since the advent of online news of Cabinet Ministers on Four Corners8. tacks on the ABC range from defund- and the barriers to viability and profitability of Those of us familiar with employment ing, calls for its privatisation, attempts public interest news services; law would categorise the Minis- to intimidate journalists and arguing There has been an obvious degeneration of public ter’s letter to the board as being a for “balance” which equates to false interest news brought about by the 24 hour news “show cause” letter. Obviously, the equivalence. cycle and the impact of “click-baiting”. current Minister is not concerned in e. the impact of online global platforms such as The recent Senate Environment the slightest as to the potential for a Facebook, Google and Twitter on the media indus- and Communications References perception of political interference in try and sharing of news in Australia; Committee inquiry into Allegations the operation of the ABC. Moreover, of political interference in the Austra- There is an obvious problem when online plat- the sensitivity about privacy which lian Broadcasting Corporation6, set forms are profiting from the hard work and skills of the Minister demonstrates completely out how the government of the day someone else. The primary concern of the union misses the point of the story which might influence the ABC. Whether movement is the loss of paid employment for was about the treatment of women by the threats were real or imagined, it is skilled journalists because of these trends. some ministers. f. the barriers faced by small, independent and community news outlets in Australia; The one thing certain in elections - Clive Palmer’s Death Tax Cost of production and an absence of advertising Social Media income are obvious problems for all media outlets. It appears however that smaller outlets are starting The terms of reference also make to emerge in regional Queensland despite these mention of social media. The QCU problems. takes part in elections in order to maximise the focus on workers’ g. the role that a newswire service plays in issues. Increasingly, this has included supporting diverse public interest journalism in investment in social media platforms. Australia Party suggesting in adver- Australia; The experience has been that what tisements (above) that the Palaszczuk It is not the major focus of this submission. How- is allowed and what is rejected by Government, if re-elected in the most ever, it is obvious that the potential loss of the Aus- platforms such as Facebook appears recent Queensland state election, tralian Associated Press would result in a reduction to be completely arbitrary. This is would introduce a death tax. This is in the numbers of skilled journalists in Australia. It hardly surprising that decisions made despite there being no announce- would determinately impact upon the standard of by an algorithm are difficult to fathom. ment or policy in relation to death tax public interest journalism in Australia . In contrast however, any number of and Labor governments, having been h. the state of local, regional and rural media conspiracy theories or outright lies are in power in Queensland for almost outlets in Australia; allowed to circulate on social media 26 out of the past 31 years without As previously mentioned, the ABC has an import- with apparent impunity. One recent showing any inclination to introduce a ant role to play for regional and rural areas. Cuts to example was Clive Palmer’s United death tax in this time. funding of the ABC are detrimental to that role. i. the role of government in supporting a viable Footnotes and diverse public interest journalism sector in 1. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/news-corp-gets-green-light-to-buy-apn-20161208-gt6l3j.html Australia; and 2. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-28/news-corp-makes-regional-papers-digital-only/12295408, accessed 7/12/2020 The best role government can play is ensure that 3. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/nov/10/qa-malcolm-turnbull-clashes-with-news-corps-paul-kelly- over-climate-coverage the ABC has funding security and is free from po- 4. Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct 1987-1989 5. https://www.smh.com.au/national/elitist-or-essential-what-regional-queensland-really-thinks-of-the-abc- litical interference from the government of the day. 20201029-p569nk.html 6.https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/ j. any other related matters. ABCInterferenceAllegations/Report 7. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-16/fact-check-are-there-no-cuts-to-abc-funding/12417226 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-24/abc-announces-cuts-to-programming-and-jobs-funding/12384972 8. https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/12/08/ita-buttrose-paul-fletcher/ For further information contact QCU Policy & Research Dr John Martin ph 07 3010 2555