Media in Australia is widely accessible and caters to a wide variety of audiences. Ninety-nine percent of Australian households have a television, and all households have at least one radio.

Public broadcasters

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), are publically funded broadcasters in Australia. They both broadcast a free-to-air television, radio progams and have a presence online.

Television

Main article: Television in Australia

Residents of all capital cities and large regional centres have access to ABC, SBS and three free-to-air commercial television networks, however in some rural areas fewer can be received. Digital free-to-air broadcasts commenced on 1 January 2001 and it is expected that analog broadcasts will be phased out by 2008.

Pay TV

Approximately 23% of Australian households had Pay TV by the end of 2003.

Press

Main article: List of Australian newspapers

There are 12 national or state/territory daily newspapers, 35 regional dailies and 470 other regional and suburban newspapers.

Of 1500 magazines published in Australia, 30 have circulations of more than 80 000, including women's interest, general interest, television, home and garden, leisure and current affairs titles.

Radio

Main article: List of Australian radio stations

Currently there are 264 operational commercial stations (funded by advertising) and more than 300 community (publicly funded) radio stations.

Regulation

Regulation of the media in Australia is limited to a narrow range of specific areas. The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) is the broadcasting regulator for radio and television in Australia, and also the co-regulatory Online Content Scheme. Consumers who have complaints about programs on television and radio or certain types of content on the Internet can apply to the ABA.

The Australian Press Council is the self regulatory body of the print media. The Council deals with complaints from the public about editorial material in newspapers and magazines published in Australia, and aims to maintain the freedom of the press.

Media ownership

Controls over media ownership in Australia are laid down in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, administered by the ABA. Even with laws in place Australia has a highly concentrated ownership of media companies. Ownership of national and the newspapers of each capital city are dominated by two companies, News Corporation and John Fairfax Holdings. Rural and regional media is dominated by Rural Press Limited , with significant holdings in all States and Territories.

There are rules governing foreign ownership of Australian media.

According to Reporters Without Borders in 2004, Australia is in 41st position on a list of countries ranked by Press Freedom; well behind New Zealand (9th) and United Kingdom (28th). Australia received this rating because of media ownership issues and because the Howard government criticised reporters that questioned Australia's participation in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

See also

• Australian media personalities (Category)

References

• The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Media in Australia [1]
• Kim Jackson, Parliment of Australia- Parlimentary Library, Media Ownership Regulation in Australia, 2003 [2]
• Greg Tingle, Director, Media Man Australia- [3]

External links

• Australian Broadcasting Authority
• Australian Broadcasting Commission
• Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
• The Australian Press Council
• Commercial Radio Australia
• Special Broadcasting service
• Cable TV and Pay TV in Australia FAQ