Media Regulation: Tensions Between Government and Owners Flashcards
1
Q
What is the Fourth Estate Conceit?
A
- “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition” - James Madison
- Blame the Founding Fathers
- Persistent Idea
2
Q
Why blame the founding fathers for the fourth estate conceit?
A
- (And Americans’ weird lionisation of them)
- Jefferson in 1787:
- The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right. And were it left to me to decide whether we should have government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter
- First newspapers began mass circulation 1800
- Coincidence with US and French revolutions
3
Q
What evidences the persistency of the fourth estate conceit?
A
- Amartya Sen
- In the terrible history of famines in the world, no substantial famine has ever occurred in any independent and democratic country with a relatively free press
- 1948 UN Dec of Human Rights
- Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of fronteirs
- George W Bush
- I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. That we need the media to hold people like me to account. I mean, power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive, and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power, whether it be here or elsewhere
4
Q
How does the fourth estate conceit exist/not exist in practice?
A
- Freedom of the Press
- Define “free” and “independent”
- From government restrictions?
- From military or police activity?
- Govt fees, licensing requirements, others?
5
Q
What is freedom of the press?
A
- “The right of the people to be informed by the press on matters of public interest so that they may exercise their rights and duties as citizens”
- “The freedom to criticise government without suffering official interference or punishment, before or after publication”
- Empirically
- Freedom House: ‘expert survey’ on legal environment, political environment, economic environment
6
Q
Broadly how can Madison’s ideal be realised?
A
- Regulatory Environment Tools (In Madison/Jeffersonian view of the media)
- Absence of Regulation Tools (In Jeffersonian view of the media)
7
Q
What are the regulatory environment tools?
A
- Entrenched freedom of speech
- Libel and slander laws
- Protections for journalists and their sources
- Sedition, incitement, and lese-majeste laws
- Freedom on Information
- Content requirements
- Access to public broadcasts during election campaign
- Ownership restrictions
- Operating fees and licenses
- Access to broadcast spectrum
8
Q
What is entrenched freedom of speech?
A
- US Bill of Rights
- Some implied (not entrenched) rights to political communication in Australia; right to information in order to participate in political process
9
Q
What are libel and slander laws?
A
- Libel: written defamation
- Slander: verbal defamation
- Defamation law gives a person whose reputation has been wrongfully attacked the right to take legal action against those responsible.
10
Q
When can defamation laws be used?
A
- Material was ‘published’ (this includes being written, spoken or illustrated, including being posted online) to at least one other person
- The material identified the plaintiff, directly or indirectly
- The material was ‘defamatory’ of the plaintiff
11
Q
What are Protections for journalists and their sources?
A
- Union (MEAA) Code of Ethics: “Where confidences are accepted, respect them in all circumstances”
- Commonwealth Law: “If a journalist has promised an informant not to disclose the informant’s identify, neither the journalist nor his or her employer is compellable to answer any question or produce any document that would disclose the identify of the informant or enable that identify to be ascertained”
- But: Court can override in case of ‘public interest’
- Implicit effects on journalist behaviour?
12
Q
What are Sedition, incitement, and lese-majeste laws?
A
Historically sedition laws have been used to suppress political dissent, punishing speech that is critical of the established order
13
Q
What is FOI?
A
- Aus Government:
- FOI allows individuals to see what information government holds about them, and to seek correction of that information fi they consider it wrong or misleading
- FOI enhances the transparency of policy making, administrative decision making and government service delivery
- A community that is better informed can participate more effectively in the nation’s democratic process
- Graber’s ‘watchdog’ and ‘surveillance’ functions
14
Q
What are content requirements?
A
- ‘Positive’ Requirements
- The ACS sets out specific minimum annual sub-quotas for Australian drama, documentary and children’s programs that all commercial free-to-air television licenses must broadcast
- ‘Negative Requirements’
- Law that films, computer games and certain publications have to be classified before they can be sold, hired, or publicly shown in Australia
- Tobacco advertising is prohibited on all kinds of radio and TV services
15
Q
What are campaign media regulations?
A
- Equal access for parties during campaigns
- Blackout period for last three days (Thurs to Sat)
- Identification, authorisation, and archiving of campaign material
- Advertising breaks can be longer during campaigns
- Elsewhere:
- Election ads ONLY allowed during get campaign (NZ)
- No TV ads on Xmas, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Anzac Day, Sunday mornings
- Party political broadcasts in lieu of advertising (UK/Ireland)
