The Government should change its approach on foreign ownership and content to protect Australian culture, according to media owner Kerry Stokes.
In the third of six ABC Boyer lectures to be broadcast today, Mr Stokes called for less emphasis on detailed rules and more emphasis on results.
(The broadcast can be heard on Radio National at 8.30am and repeated at 9.30pm.)
Mr Stokes said that the history of Australian media showed how excessive legalism had defeated the good intentions. He cited the case of Fairfax as an example of how effective foreign control could be obtained over a major Australian media outlet, despite rules designed to prevent it.
A 15 per cent holding had been enough for Canadian Conrad Black to get control of Fairfax. Mr Stokes criticised the rules on television ownership because the legislation put emphasis on artifical percentages of shares which could be easily circumvented. Government policy should be directed to the fact of control, not legalistic rules about shareholdings, he said.
Mr Stokes called for more effective government intervention to ensure greater Australian ownership and content in the Australian media.
Information and communications policy was essential to the task of preserving Australian culture, he said.
“”Very simply, without communication, there is no culture,” he said. “”The two are almost synonymous: most acts of culture are acts of communication of one sort or other. The greater the level of foreign involvement in these acts of communication, the greater the risk that our culture will be diluted. . . .
In dealing with levels of foreign ownership, the media should be treated as a special case “”because the media industry has such a large role in defining what Australia is”.
“”Some foreign content is highly desirable,” he said “”Australia, more than many nations, is appreciative of that. . . . However, that foreign content must be as diverse as possible, and mustn’t dominate to the extent that it totally swamps Australian content. To achieve the proper balance requires some form of controlling authority.
Mr Stokes, whose companies owns The Canberra Times and the Golden West regional television network in Western Australia said, “”Large or unrestrained amounts of foreign capital and foreign expertise are not necessary to guarantee the continued existence of a creative and vital Australian media.”
Australia had some of the best newspapers in the world, “”But it is to our great shame as a nation that nearly all of our quality newspapers are no longer truly Australian, but are owned or controlled by foreigners. Press ownership is not just the ownership of a commercial entity. It confers the power to influence society and to shape a nation’s history.”
You had to be a citizen to stand for parliament or vote in elections, so you have to be a citizen to control major media outlets which had such a profound influence on the conduct of parliamentary democracy in Australia.
History, however, had shown many politicians had considered only the short-term political advantage.
“”No federal government has ever had the guts to make the hard decisions for the long-term national good that would ensure a freer, a more diverse and an Australian-owned press,” he said.
In less than 10 years more than 80 per cent of the total metropolitan and national daily circulation of newspapers in Australia had become concentrated in the hands of just two companies. It would not be tolerated in comparable democratic countries.
“”The national interest demands that Australian media should be controlled by Australians,” he said “” A sprinkling of foreign shareholdings in a media company, through superannuation or investment funds, does not matter. It is control that counts whether that is achieved through a 50, 15 or even 5 per cent holding. . . .
“”Unfortunately, Australia has a history of a legalistic approach by governments which in turn results in a legalistic response by the participants. Substance and policy objectives go out the window. . . .
“”Perhaps there should be an aggregate total percentage limit for foreign ownership within the Australian media taken as whole, with no particular limit set within an individual media company or for any individual foreign corporation or citizen. Foreign interests would then compete with each other (rather than with Australian companies) for the right to participate in the Australian media industries.”
Mr Stokes called for a new approach to television licensing with different entry prices or licence fees depending on the nature of the material being broadcast.