From Media Policy to ‘Big’ Media Policy: The Battle for Pluralism in Australia

Abstract

The year 2012 was a crucial turning point for media and journalism in many regions of the Western world. Sociologists frequently employ the term ‘critical junctures’ to explain the windows of opportunities for social change presented at specific times in history. The UK Leveson Inquiry into Culture, Practices, and Ethics of the Press was certainly one of the best examples of these ‘critical junctures’ that offered an unprecedented occasion to achieve structural reforms concerning media structures, journalism ethics and news standards. Certainly, the closure of the News of the World had a tangible effect in Australia, a country with direct links to UK media conglomerates, notably part of the Murdoch’s empire. In fact, the debate in the UK triggered the establishment in September 2011 of the Independent Media Inquiry into the Media and Media Regulation in Australia, frequently referred to as the Finkelstein Review. When the News of the World scandal spread, Australia’s Labor Government had already initiated an official appraisal of the country’s media systems with the aim to review ‘the operation of media and communications legislation in Australia and to assess its effectiveness in achieving appropriate policy objectives for the convergent era’ (Convergence Review, 2012, p. 110).