Murdoch monopoly for all to see | Letter to the Australian Financial Review

The Financial Review’s denial of the Murdoch monopoly flies in the face of both economic evidence and the lived experience of millions.

By the numbers, News Corp controls between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of daily metropolitan newspaper readership. For perspective, Coles controls less than 28 per cent of grocery sales. And in large markets, Murdoch enjoys virtually 100 per cent control.

Indeed, only the Financial Review seems to dispute that Australia has the highest concentration of media ownership in the democratic world.

Nobody in Queensland rivals Murdoch’s stranglehold through The Australian, The Courier-Mail, Gold Coast Bulletin, The Cairns Post, Sunshine Coast Daily, Daily Mercury (Mackay), The Chronicle (Toowoomba) and Townsville Bulletin.

Start-up publishers must negotiate with Murdoch’s monopoly on presses. If they become too threatening, Murdoch undermines them. Journalists who are privately scathing of Murdoch keep quiet publicly, either because they work for him or may have to. Others stay in toxic workplaces because they see no alternative.

Murdoch’s papers are powerful because they set the nation’s agenda and frame public debates. The proof is yesterday’s AFR View (‘‘Call for inquiry into media diversity is a political stunt’’) which, probably unknowingly, embraced the Murdoch talking point that I blame News Corp for losing office. I don’t. This lie is calculated to transform a media policy debate into a game of personalities.

When industry elites such as Greg Hywood claim there are “virtually infinite” sources of online news, they should answer: does the Guardian watch mayoral elections in Kyogle? Does the Washington Post report on Dalby’s District Court? These regions’ Murdoch papers were massacred last year. Instead, communities get Sky News Regional, a free-to-air vehicle for far-right conspiracies, piped in from Sydney and Melbourne, represented by Hywood’s FreeTV lobby.