The impact of media bias on Australian politics
“A country where the media attack the opposition rather than the Government is a country where freedom is under threat”
Media bias has become more and more prevalent with former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd campaigning for a Royal Commission into media diversity. But how does media bias affect Australian politics and to what extent?
Media bias has been a problem plaguing Australian politics for several decades now. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has been at the centre of recent discussions about bias, with the behemoth viciously campaigning for one side of politics, while viciously campaigning against the other in twenty out of the last twenty state and federal elections over the last ten years.
The idea of media bias is an inherently simple one. It implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening the standards of journalism, rather than the perspective of an individual journalist or article [1].
As the discussion regarding media diversity has ramped up following the aftermath of the 2019 election, the influence of media conglomerates has come under more scrutiny than ever before.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has recently launched a campaign for a Royal Commission into media diversity and News Corp. Rudd, whose petition garnered over half a million signatures, said that “There is a culture of fear in Australia about what happens if you take on the Murdoch monopoly … they will seek to individually eviscerate people [2].”
Media analyst Margaret Simons has said the media has become more opinionated as opposed to more biased.
“I think there’s been a tendency for the media over the last decade to become more opinionated,” she said.
“I think it’s also become more superficial. You see a lot of stories nowadays that are reliant on one fact or one phone call and are presented without any context, which can give an illusion of bias [3].”
Propagandists and the role of newspapers
Much has been made of Rupert Murdoch’s influence over the media and Australian politics in general. Their clench hold over the print media industry is undeniable. It’s no secret that Australia has one of the most concentrated media landscapes of any advanced democracy. News Corp owns seventy per cent of Australia’s print media. Rudd, who was approached but politely declined to be interviewed, labelled Murdoch a cancer on democracy and said that the mogul cripples the national debate [4].
For Simons, News Corp has never been as partisan as it is now.
“Not during my career [analysing the media], no. It’s never been more partisan than it is now. I think the only time I can really think it was as partisan was during the time of the Whitlam Government,” she said.
It is not solely News Corp at the forefront of the media diversity and bias debate, however. Both Nine/Fairfax and Seven/West Media have monopolies in Australian media, but not to the staggering size of News Corp. According to popular YouTuber and political commentator Jordan Shanks, it’s not a matter of outlets being biased, but who those outlets are biased towards.
“The question is their agenda. Fairfax is run by Peter Costello, Murdoch press is run by Murdoch, ABC is run by Ita Butrose. All [are] card-carrying Liberals,” Shanks said in an interview [5].
“Even if the landscape was more diverse as long as it’s owned by corporate interests it will reflect corporate interests. At the moment, it almost exclusively reflects Murdoch’s interests, but if there was a different owner, it would reflect the interests of that owner.
“The myth is that the press “holds power to account”. The reality is that it’s a weapon for their owners.”
Ever since the Two out of Three Rule was repealed in 2017, media conglomerates are now allowed to own three out of three media outlets — print, radio and television. They were previously allowed to only own two. As a result, it is easier for media proprietors to push their own personal and corporate interests to even larger audiences.
Studies conducted by GetUp! in their recent “Who Controls Our Media?” report shows that News Corp own 59% print media in Australia, although numbers estimate that it is closer to 70%. The rest is dominated by Nine and Seven/West. News Corp also dominated revenue, holding a 62% share in total revenue made by news media companies[6]. This proves that Australia has one of the most concentrated media markets in the world.
The argument against this is that with the rise of digital media, newspapers are losing readers and the influence that comes with it, but that isn’t the case according to Shanks.
“The front page is the true weapon of the press, because every gas station you walk into, every newsagent you walk past has a headline that is the first thing you see.
Newspapers are still important. You might not read them, but people in TV and radio do and they report the news exactly how its written in those papers [7].”
So how exactly does this affect the way news is reported in the mainstream media?
Speaking at the Adelaide Writers Week, investigative journalist and editor Michael West said that journalists have a “cosy relationship” with the incumbent government.
“The Canberra press gallery bubble is being controlled more and more by the government,” West said.
“The Prime Minister’s Office policy drops come from between 2pm to 7pm. The story gets written word for word, which gets picked up by TV and radio the following morning.
“Because all of the major players get the drop at the same time, there’s no time to ask questions or criticise the policy. It’s essentially a press release a day early. By the time the details of the policy come out, the 24-hour news cycle has been set.
“If these journalists don’t play ball with the government, they then don’t get the scoops they want; they miss out on the drops [8].”
The New Code
Much of the talk regarding media diversity has surrounded the brand new News Media Bargaining Code, which forces technology giants Google and Facebook to pay traditional media companies for news, with many people within the independent media ecosystem slamming the new legislation.
Under the code, traditional media giants and more independent outlets have received million-dollar payouts in what Shanks has described as Under the code, traditional media giants and more independent outlets have received million-dollar payouts in what Shanks has described as “a backroom deal to save face [9].”
What is concerning about the new code is that none of the money that goes to these organisations is guaranteed to be invested into public interest journalism. “There is no requirement that the content be produced by a journalist” the explanatory memorandum makes clear in defining what content is covered by the code [10].
“None of the money has to go to the journalists,” Crikey editor Peter Fray mentioned at Adelaide Writers Week.
“For all we know, this money can go to Married at First Sight, which is concerning.”
“The Code is based on a false premise. These are licencing agreements, it’s based on a political game [11].”
For Simons, the code, while problematic at the moment, will improve journalism in the future.
“I think it’s a messy, pragmatic, intellectually muddy approach, but I do support it,” Simons said, “But The Guardian has committed investing the money into journalism, and The Conversation have got enough money from the Code to hire another journalist.
“It’s about creating a stick in the background and the threat of that stick forcing these stateless multinationals to the negotiation table.”
It is essentially free money for these old media giants, with about 90% of cash going towards News Corp, Seven West Media and Nine. This allows the proprietors of these outlets, Murdoch, Kerry Packer and Peter Costello, to further push the envelope in regards to their agendas thanks to greater funding, without any mainstream, independent outlets to balance this bias.
According to West, the new Code is “disgraceful”.
“These giants don’t steal content, all they do is link the article and take you to the Murdoch and Fairfax paywalls. It’s free advertising,” he said.
“There’s no innovation, Murdoch hasn’t paid tax in Australia for six years. They don’t need public support.
“I’ve heard from Google insiders that the money isn’t for independent outlets. It’s protection money, they’re just paying off the government’s mates to effectively, and to be really cynical, just to get them through the next election [12].”
The impact of media bias on politics
Ultimately, despite the rise of many independent outlets, Australia still has one of the most concentrated media landscapes in the English-speaking world. News Corp used the coronavirus pandemic to shut down over 100 regional newspapers, denying many in these areas access to local news [13].
Aside from Network Ten, practically all of Australia’s print and television media have links to the Liberal Party [14]. While being the public broadcaster of the nation and the “bulwark of public interest journalism”, according to Kevin Rudd, the ABC is run by Ita Buttrose and has been leaning more towards the right in a desperate bid to protect its funding base, with $783 million cut from its budget since the Liberals have taken power in 2013 [15].
When it comes to elections, News Corp continues to have a large influence on the key talking points — and according to Simons, their power is changing.
“It doesn’t have that raw, vote-pulling power anymore,” she said.
“It’s power now lies in framing and constraining the debate.
“Why is acceptable to still be a climate change sceptic in Australia? It’s because The Australian makes it acceptable.
“I think that’s the way it’s influence is increasing [16].”
There is also the emergence of Sky News, run by Foxtel. While largely pure news throughout the day, the network becomes a home for a series of right-wing commentators carrying agendas that are often factually incorrect. The fact it was being shown on regional television for free was incredibly worrying, and although it has a small viewer base in Australia, a growing social media presence means that the station could pose a severe problem in the future.
The Sky News YouTube channel has over one million subscribers
It is clear that News Corp and Nine/Fairfax has a tightening clench hold on the Australian media landscape and with the new Bargaining Code, means it can push its anti-union, anti-Labor party agendas further. While more people turn to digital platforms for their news, as Shanks has put it several times in his videos, “Murdoch owns these outlets — and runs them at a loss — for power. If you want to know what the media will talk about tomorrow, read The Australian today.”
Fray tends to agree.
“It’s impossible to measure the political influence of, say, a newspaper. You can’t put a number on it,” he said, “But it is clear that The Australian essentially creates policy outcomes [17].”
Can independent outlets balance this monopoly in the future and perhaps swing an election towards Labor?
West thinks so.
“I think independent media will put old media to the sword if they stopped subsidising these old businesses and left it to independent journalism — and perhaps changed the defamation laws — then I think there is a chance[18].”
The 2019 federal election was supposedly a test to see whether scare campaigns could win over a bold and positive agenda, according to Tanya Plibersek [19]. News Corp’s scare campaigns won out in the end. These coming years seem vital in seeing whether or not independent outlets can win out against traditional media and their right-wing, big business agendas and biases, which stem into their news coverage.
So, what about the initial question? Is the mainstream media biased? Put simply, yes.
No media outlet is independent of its proprietor. Their coverage on politics will align with the opinion of their owner. As it reflects corporate interests, these proprietors will align themselves with the Liberal Party, traditionally the party of corporations. As a result, bias in the media does have a large impact on politics and does influence public perception on politics and policy heavily.
The constant attacks on the Labor party by the Murdoch press and the rest of the mainstream media highlights the quote by Peter Hitchens mentioned at the start of this essay.
Murdoch and News Corp’s attacks on the ABC, as well at the LNP’s complete mismanagement of it means that the ABC is facing an existential crisis it may never recover from. Murdoch’s rallies to privatise the nation’s public broadcaster means that the majority of the mainstream media in Australia could be run by two right-wing, partisan zealots that make the nation’s tiny bubble of mainstream media outlets smaller and more partisan
And that’s never a good thing.
Footnotes
[1] Media Bias | Boundless Political Science n.d., Lumen, viewed 9 April 2021, <https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-politicalscience/chapter/media-bias/>.
[2] Simons, M 2020, ‘’Culture of fear’: why Kevin Rudd is determined to see an end to Murdoch’s media dominance’, The Guardian, 17 October, viewed 9 April 2021, <https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/oct/17/culture-of-fear-why-kevin-rudd-is-determined-to-see-an-end-to-murdochs-media-dominance>.
[3] Interview with Margaret Simons conducted 25.03.21
[4] Rudd, K 2021, Kevin Rudd speaking to the Senate Inquiry into Media Diversity in Australia, online video, 19 February, viewed 22 February 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap_LuSQ5NSc>.
[5] Interview with Jordan Shanks (Friendlyjordies) conducted 24.03.21
[6] Brevini, B & Ward, M 2021, Who Controls Our Media: Exposing the impact of media concentration on our democracy, GetUp!, pdf, viewed 2 May 2021, <https://d68ej2dhhub09.cloudfront.net/2810-GetUp_-_Who_Controls_Our_Media_.pdf>.
[7] Shanks, J 2021, Kevin Rudd Calmly Dismantles Low IQ Senators, online video, 19 March, viewed 3 May 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6rQdmN83cw>.
[8] Simons, M; Washington D; West, M; Fray, P. The Rise of Independent Media, recorded 2 March, 2021.
[9] Interview with Shanks (conducted 24.03.21)
[10] Keane, B 2021, ‘Australian media policy: of the mates, by the mates, for the mates’, Crikey, 26 February, viewed 17 March 2021, <https://www.crikey.com.au/2021/02/26/media-policy-tradition/>.
[11] Simons, M; Washington D; West, M; Fray, P. The Rise of Independent Media.
[12] Simons, M; Washington D; West, M; Fray, P. The Rise of Independent Media.
[13] Rudd, K 2021, Kevin Rudd speaking to the Senate Inquiry into Media Diversity in Australia, online video, 19 February, viewed 22 February 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap_LuSQ5NSc>.
[14] Gillies, R 2020, ‘The effect of Right-wing bias in Australia’s media’, Independent Australia, 30 November, viewed 15 February 2021, <https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/the-effect-of-right-wing-bias-in-australias-media,14569>
[15] Brevini, B & Ward, M 2021, Who Controls Our Media: Exposing the impact of media concentration on our democracy, GetUp!, pdf, <https://d68ej2dhhub09.cloudfront.net/2810-GetUp_-_Who_Controls_Our_Media_.pdf>.
[16] Interview with Margaret Simons conducted 25.03.21
[17] Simons, M; Washington D; West, M; Fray, P. The Rise of Independent Media.
[18] Simons, M; Washington D; West, M; Fray, P. The Rise of Independent Media.
[19] ABC Q&A 2019, Labor, News Corp and Rupert Murdoch | Q&A, online video, 14 May, viewed 24 February 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_PRycwsolE>.
