The song remains the same: Media regulation a decade after the Finkelstein inquiry

Abstract

This commentary draws on a keynote panel held (virtually) at the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia’s (JEERA) annual conference, hosted by the University of Canberra between 30 November and 3 December 2021. The panel comprised four people who had been involved in the last major attempt to reform media regulation in Australia, in 2011–12: Ray Finkelstein, who was appointed by the federal Labor government to inquire into the media and media regulation; Matthew Ricketson, then professor of journalism at the University of Canberra, who was appointed to assist Finkelstein; political scientist Rodney Tiffen who acted as a consultant to the inquiry, and Emma Dawson, who was the media policy adviser in the office of the Communications minister, Stephen Conroy. The government, which had already set up the Convergence Review, took the recommendations of both inquiries and introduced a package of bills to parliament in early 2013 that was strongly opposed by both the Liberal Party and the media industry. Most of the bills were withdrawn. The commentary summarizes the discussion and asks whether media regulation has improved in the intervening decade and if not, why not.