Media Regulatory Frameworks in the Age of Broadband: Securing Diversity

Professor Hitchens, writing from Australia, sees a dramatically different regulatory framework in a post-convergence Broadband Age. Future media policy and regulation, she says, will have to address the entire media ecosystem, viewed as a regulatory space in which self-regulation and the market are all part of the basket of regulatory tools. Its goal should be to maintain and strengthen the public sphere. Traditional rules limiting media ownership or setting content requirements are unlikely to be viable, and will be replaced by increased reliance on sectoral ex ante competition regulation, perhaps complemented by a code of behavior promoting self-regulation regarding content. Hitchens concludes that traditional media regulations rooted in spectrum scarcity are not sustainable in the long term

Commercial Broadcasting - Preserving the Public Interest

During 1999 and 2000 considerable attention was focused on an inquiry conducted by the broadcasting regulator, the Australian Broadcasting Authority ('ABA'), into the commercial arrangements of a number of commercial radio presenters associated with talkback radio. In May 1999, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation ('ABC') program, Media Watch, alleged that, John Laws, a presenter with Sydney Radio Station 2UE, had financial arrangements in place with an organisation representing the major Australian banks, the Australian Bankers' Association. It was alleged that the effect of these arrangements was that Laws would broadcast positive comments about the banks. These comments were independent of any paid advertising run by the station for the banks or the Bankers' Association. Following the Media Watch revelations, the ABA announced that it would conduct an inquiry1 into the allegations in order to determine whether there had been any breach of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth) ('BSA') or the licence conditions or codes of practice to which Radio 2UE was subject. Following further allegations, the ABA, between July 1999 and November 1999, extended its inquiry to cover another 2UE presenter, Alan Jones,2 and presenters from four other radio stations: 6PR Perth, 5AD (also known as 5ADD) Adelaide, 5DN Adelaide and 3AW Melbourn

International Regulation of Advertising, Sponsorship and Commercial Disclosure for Commercial Radio Broadcasting

Australian Communications and Media Authorit

Broadcasting Pluralism and Diversity: A Comparative Study of Policy and Regulation

Broadcasting Pluralism and Diversity is a study of the policy and regulatory measures relating to the promotion of media diversity in three jurisdictions: the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. A central focus of the book is regulation of media ownership and control, and, taking an historical approach, the book argues that early policy and regulatory decisions continue to have a significant influence on current reforms. Whilst policy and reform debates focus on ownership and control measures, the book also argues that such measures can not be considered in isolation from other regulatory instruments, and that a holistic regulatory approach is required. As such, content regulation and competition regulation are also considered. Underlying the study is the contention that much of the policy informing pluralism and diversity regulation, although making reference to the importance of the media's role in the democratic process, has also been skewed by a futile focus on the different regulatory treatment of the press and broadcasting, which is adversely influencing current policy debates. The book argues that a different approach, using the public sphere concept, needs to be adopted and used as a measure against which regulatory reform in the changing media environment can be assessed

The Role of Sponsorship Regulation in Non-commercial Broadcasting

Programme sponsorship is V!ell known as a form of revenue-raising for broadcasters. Whilstseen as a form of advertising, it is aiso generally regarded as distinct from advertising. This distinction was described in the Report of the Peacock Committee which investigated financing of the BBC: "Sponsorship is a form of advertising limited to a'statement in a particular programme that it is being financed by a particular organisation. The form of that statement would normally exclude an-intrusive "commercial" of a "spot" character". Advertising is usually viewed as something "... which is designed or calculated to draw public attention to a product or to promote its use ... ".2 Thus, sponsorship through the identification of the sponsor and, possibly, products or services, has the potential, even if limited, for promotion, but at the same time, it will usually lack the vivid impact associated with spot advertising