SENDING A MESSAGE: THE AUSTRALIAN'S REPORTING OF MEDIA POLICY

Abstract

As Australia's only national general newspaper, with an elite 'political class' audience, The Australian has been at the forefront of newspaper proprietors' attempts to influence media policy. This article analyses The Australian's reporting of two key media policy proposals affecting newspapers: The establishment of the Australian Press Council in 1975-76 and the Independent Inquiry into Media and Media Regulation (the Finkelstein inquiry) in 2012-13. While the events were 36 years apart, the paper's stance and rhetoric were remarkably similar. However, its approach to journalism and to providing information to its audience changed in several important respects.