Doug Cameron chaired the Labor-led committee that has criticised newspapers standing against Labor's media reforms. Picture: AAP Source: AAP
THE Labor-controlled Senate committee that conducted a lightning inquiry into the media draft laws says newspaper critics of the bills are being hysterical.
Numerous examples of media wrongdoing, such as the exposure of a minister of the Crown's homosexuality, demonstrated exactly why regulation of the news media was warranted, the committee said.
Its report, tabled in the Senate by chairman Doug Cameron shortly before debate began on two of the government's six media bills, noted that Britain had agreed on a similar new system of press regulation, including creation of a new regulator.
The committee said no allegations of criminal misconduct had been levelled at the Australian media.
But in a clear swipe at News Ltd newspapers, which have mounted a vigorous campaign against the government's laws, the report said the committee heard the same kind of denials of misconduct as an inquiry in the UK had heard.
"Steps should be taken in Australia to ensure that the Murdoch press culture seen in the UK can not get a foothold here," it said.
News Limited CEO Kim Williams delivers an opening statement to the Media Reforms hearing.
Media bosses were overwhelmingly critical of what they saw as an infringement of press freedom, in particular the proposed Public Interest Media Advocate (PIMA), an independent official to be appointed by the minister.
News Ltd chief executive Kim Williams said the PIMA would be a single person with absolute powers whose decisions could not be appealed.
But Ray Finkelstein, who conducted a review into the Australian media, said what was proposed was a relatively minor imposition on press freedom and probably no restriction on free speech.
"Despite protestation to the contrary, the committee believes that the media organisations that have been so strident in their criticism of the package of media reforms are being hysterical," the committee said.
In a dissenting report, coalition committee members said they shared the concerns of many witnesses that PIMA was an unprecedented attack on free speech and a free media.
"The coalition believes that the process of appointing the PIMA is open to gross political manipulation and may result in a highly partisan individual being the sole arbiter on content regulation and media industry structure," they said.
The Senate passed the first two bills - the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Convergence Review and Other Measures) Bill 2013 and the Television Licence Fees Amendment Bill 2013 - with both backed by the government and opposition.
These set Australian contents quotas on commercial TV, limit the number of commercial networks to three and allow a 50 per cent reduction in licence fees.
Opposition Senators did loudly object to the government and Greens-imposed guillotine, which required that the two bills be debated and passed in two hours.
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