By Peter Boyle
Now that the Adelaide News has folded, every capital city in Australia except Sydney and Melbourne has only one local daily newspaper.
In Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin, the only daily paper is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd, which also owns the only national daily, the Australian, and daily "24-hour" newspapers in Sydney and Melbourne.
The News closed shortly after the release of the report of the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Print Media. This concluded that any further concentration in the ownership of metropolitan daily newspapers was "unlikely to be in the public interest".
The committee found that the print media were highly monopolised by News Ltd, Kerry Packer's Australian Consolidated Press and Conrad Black's newly acquired Fairfax group.
The big three had divided up control of the industry, with each dominating a distinct section. Even in the two cities where there is still more than one local daily, Fairfax and News have divided readers into two distinct markets: Fairfax's Sydney Morning Herald and Age go for the smaller serious newspaper readership and Murdoch's Daily Telegraph Mirror and Herald-Sun go for "mass appeal".
News Ltd also publishes 72 out of 130 suburban newspapers. Altogether it controls 62.8% of all newspaper circulation. Black's Fairfax controls 20.4%.
Professor Peter Swan, a consultant for News Ltd, told the inquiry that "the market" was dictating that there be only one daily newspaper in most cities. He pointed to the United States, where the number of cities with more than one newspaper now is "nearly zero".
Packer dominates the magazine market with outright ownership of 13 of the 30 top-selling magazines and a half share in TV Week. This gives him control of 52.3% of magazine circulation of the top 30. His main competitor in this sector is News Ltd, which controls 37.7% of circulation with six fully owned magazines and two under joint ownership. Packer also owns Channel Nine and eight radio stations.
'Vertical integration'
The media monopolies have also sought to own and control the industries that are the source of their main inputs. This is called "vertical integration".
Newsprint accounts for 20-40% of the cost of producing a newspaper. Australia's only newsprint manufacturer, Australian Newsprint Mills Ltd (ANM), is half owned by News Ltd. The other half is owned by Fletcher Challenge, the second largest newsprint producer in the ge also owns New Zealand's Tasman Pulp and Paper Company, ANM's main "competitor".
ANM supplies two-thirds of newsprint used by newspapers in Australia. Any newspaper not buying from them has to import at higher cost. The print media inquiry concluded that it was unlikely that another newsprint manufacturer would enter the Australian industry because of high capital outlay required to set up (at least $500 million) and the fact that ANM has tied up most major newspaper publishers in long-term contracts.
Australia's main news source, Australian Associated Press, is owned by News Ltd (43.4%), Fairfax (43.4%), WAN (8%) and a couple of smaller publishing groups.
Three companies dominate the distribution of magazines to supermarkets, department stores and newsagents — Gordon and Gotch (owned by a NZ company which is half owned by News Ltd), Network Distribution Company (a subsidiary of Packer's ACP) and Newsagents Direct Distribution (owned by Eastern Suburbs Newspapers, which owns Federal Publishing Company).
In its submission to the inquiry, the Australian Journalists Association said that this high degree of vertical integration meant that "any new player would be reduced to colonial status, forced to duplicate an entire structure, or exist as a de facto subsidiary at News group's pleasure".
While the print media inquiry had to acknowledge the monopolised state of the industry, a majority of the parliamentary committee thought that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that this has resulted in biased reporting, news suppression or lack of diversity.
However, one committee member, left Labor MP John Langmore, disagreed. He said that there was no doubt that the high concentration of ownership in the print media had led to a reduction in the diversity of views.
Entrenching Murdoch
The recommendations of the committee contain no means of preventing even greater monopolisation, let alone reducing it. The committee recommended:
- compulsory 10-day pre-notification of print mergers involving metropolitan, national or regional daily newspapers with circulations of more than 30,000;
- amendments to the Trade Practices Act requiring approval for further mergers which might impact on free expression of opinion or fair and accurate presentation of news;
- that foreign ownership of up to 20% in print media be allowed, with a requirement that the government publish reasons for any approval or rejection of specific proposals for foreign investment.
The committee refused to endorse calls for compulsory charters of editorial independence to be signed by newspaper owners. It also e Communications Law Centre, Centre for Independent Journalism) for support for smaller independent publishers or new entrants and calls for the big media monopolies to be divested of their control of some publications.
The few restrictions recommended serve at best to placate public concern (aroused when it looked like Kerry Packer would take over the Fairfax group last year) and at worst to entrench Murdoch as the dominant player in print media. If the Trade Practices Act is amended as the committee majority desires, these restrictions would apply chiefly to any serious challenger to Murdoch's dominance.