Australia’s media landscape is experiencing a period of tremendous change. The process of transformation has largely been driven by great advances in communications technology that are redefining how we produce and consume media – from home grown entertainment to news clips from the frontline of overseas conflicts.

Writing in the Canberra Times, Christian Downie argues that the effective removal of cross media laws will jeopardise the health of Australia?s democracy by ensuring greater concentration of media ownership and a loss of media diversity. The permeation of the traditional media players into new media markets such as the internet reinforces the value of...

Introduction Although Australia's media ownership laws have remained unchanged for over a decade, debate on the desirability of reform has continued unabated. This debate has been fuelled by the advent of new media technologies, a number of inquiries proposing regulatory changes, and the self-interest of those media organisations that report the controversy. The Government has...

In this address to Morgan Stanley Analysts, Ed Willett describes how, in light of the Minister for Communications’ discussion paper Meeting the digital challenge, the ACCC is considering how the Trade Practices Act would apply to cross media mergers in the event that the proposed reforms are adopted.

Andrew Macintosh challenges one of the central arguments in the federal government’s case for reforming cross-media ownership laws – that new media sources, particularly the internet, will guarantee pluralism in Australian media. He shows that as little as one per cent of Australians rely on alternative media providers as their main source of news and...