Topic of this week: Who is it that runs the media we intake on a daily basis? Is there many players or just a single higher power? To be honest the “who owns the media” topic has never really been one of interest, perhaps relating to my age? So I have basically taken this weeks post as a kind of “research task” to benefit my personal understanding, I will be focusing on my local media and who their stories are influenced by.
Starting with print media, the most personally familiar written media outlet in the Illawarra is the Illawarra Mercury. Originating as a newspaper the Illawarra Mercury now reaches approximately 70,000 residents daily, through their website, mobile app, Facebook and of course its original printed format. I have also come to find that it is owned by one of the two major players in newspaper media, this being Fairfax Media. *As seen in the below Youtube clip, the media has a way of swaying its viewers to believe that THEY are the ones who control what they watch, however is the timeline of news updates on devices, in the clip above evidence which portrays almost “brainwashing” ideals of the media? Thats a thought?!*
During this weeks tutorial we uncovered a web of information directing us to levels of media ownership, looking something like this:
Evident, is a large concentration of activity directed towards the Murdoch name, aka Rupert and his son Lachlan. However from what I could gather on this chart their influence didn’t necessarily affect the localised information I was receiving, but rather media players such as Kerry Stokes, Bruce Gordon and the Fairfax Media Limited were. Upon further investigation I found that Bruce Gordon, owner of the WIN Television Network, a network founded in Wollongong had actually “gained control” of the network from Rupert Murdoch. This led me to wonder, did the “2 out of 3” law have anything to do with Rupert Murdoch’s withdrawal from our network and will the possible abolishment of this law lead to regained control of our media by the Murdoch name?
I believe, if there is a change to this law there is a risk of bias opinion on all forms of media, especially if this power is in the hands of Rupert Murdoch, who is well known for “abusing his media power” and incorporating personal political opinion. Will the following stats need adjusting?
Jo Kuzet 
This was a really good post! I loved how you connected the concept in the lecture to localized media forms. However, I would’ve liked to see a comparison between the local media source and an international source. This probably would have strengthened your argument. Also a more detailed look into your thoughts on the ‘2/3 ownership’ law would have been interesting; you raised a good point. This website contains some interesting information that relates to Murdoch’s domination of Australian media; https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/november/1383224400/robert-manne/why-rupert-murdoch-can-t-be-stopped. Overall, I found your post to be extremely interesting, and the chosen images were perfect for this topic!
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Hey Jo! I liked reading your investigative article about media ownership in Australia. As someone who has also only become aware how much media ownership controls what is delivered to us as viewers/listeners/readers, I appreciate your honesty of how confusing the concept was to grasp at first. Your point about Murdoch’s withdrawal from the WIN Television Network and how it could possibly have related to the ‘2 out of 3’ law, was definitely a fascinating one as it made me as a reader question Murdoch’s motives for withdrawing from a successful network. Your incorporation of many statistical images as well as the satirical image, made reading your blog post an enjoyable experience!
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