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The Federal Government’s media reform package has failed to attract support of Australians. A small majority of Australians (52%) oppose the plan to drop cross-media restrictions, while a clear majority of Australians (64%) oppose the plan to relax foreign ownership restrictions.

About one-third of Australians (36%) believe the changes to the media laws will have a negative impact on the integrity of reporting (only 14% see it as positive), while 35% say the reforms will reduce diversity ( 17% say diversity will increase).

Australian’s concerns are similar, although nowhere near as strong, as a special Crikey Survey conducted by Roy Morgan Research of Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) Members last week. However, it is important to note there are some significant differences of opinion held by all Australians compared to journalists. For example, a small majority of Australians (55%) want to maintain a limit of three commercial free-to-air television stations in capital cities, whereas 70% of MEAA Journalists disagree with maintaining the limit only 28% agree and 2% undecided.

Eighty-two percent of Australian journalists believe the changes to the media laws will have a negative impact on the integrity of reporting and 85% saying the reforms will reduce diversity.

Fifty-seven percent of Australians (MEAA Journalists — 63%) believe the Australian media companies/owners have “too much influence” in deciding how Australians vote and 61% (MEAA Journalists — 71%) say media companies/owners have “too much influence” in determining the political agenda.

Gary Morgan says:

“The public is clearly divided on the Federal Government’s reform package with 52% opposing the Government’s plan to abolish cross-media restrictions and 55% agreeing with the limit of three commercial free-to-air TV stations in capital cities.

“There are some glaring differences in public opinion and that of MEAA journalists, with the public in favour of maintaining in capital cities three free-to-air commercial TV stations (55%), while the MEAA journalists want more commercial TV stations (70% disagree with maintaining the existing limit of three commercial capital city TV stations).

“What should concern everyone is the large number of both journalists and the public who say the Australian media has too much influence in determining the political agenda. This can be fixed easily if all media clearly separate their “opinion” from the facts.

“Today the print media, in combination with the Internet, is more influential than ever — their business is growing, not declining, as some would believe. This point was made clearly by Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine, which she highlighted recently in her paper — ‘Newspapers are transforming rather than disappearing.’

“It is the Federal Government’s responsibility to ensure that in Australia there is no reduction in diversity across all forms of media — print; TV; radio; and the Internet.”

Roy Morgan Qualitative Analysis:

Those who disagree with the plans to abolish cross-media ownership restrictions do so because they think it will lead to reduced competition within the industry, and therefore less diverse opinions:

“The media owners can have too much control of the content that is given to the public — they should not be given that much control. We must have free speech!”

“We need a variety of different sources of what people are saying is the truth.”

“We should be finding ways to encourage a wider range of perspectives, not limiting them.”

“I think creating a monopoly is dangerous, the media will become propaganda suiting the owner’s interests.”

“It’s scary to concentrate so much in the hands of so few.”

“There should be a broad range of media sources and you can’t have that if one person owns it all.”

Those who agreed with the plans to abolish cross-media ownership restrictions did so largely because they see Australia as a free-enterprise nation:

“If anyone wants to own a newspaper, a radio station and a TV station, that’s their business. As long as they keep employing people I believe it is OK.”

“I don’t think there should be any severe restriction on what companies’ people can own.”

“I think there’s probably too much legislation — too much control. If someone wants to own several media, it’s your choice over whether to watch it or not.”

“It should be open and free to whoever wants to buy it.”

“As long as one person doesn’t control 100% of the media I think that it’s fine.”

This special telephone Roy Morgan Survey was conducted on August 9/10, 2006, with an Australia-wide cross-section of 676 men and women aged 14 and over. More details are available on a subscription basis.

Roy Morgan Detailed Analysis
A detailed analysis of this special Roy Morgan survey can be purchased for $6,800 plus GST (which includes the data loaded in Roy Morgan’s Asteroid Software).

Morgan Poll sampling tolerance:
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. The following table gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. The figures are approximate and for general guidance only, and assume a simple random sample. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

Sample size	Percentage estimate
	25-75%	10% or 90%	5% or 95%
500	±4½	±3	±2

1. Reaction to Media Ownership Changes

Respondents were told: “The Federal Government plans to abolish cross-media ownership restrictions so TV stations and newspapers can have the same owner — as long as there are five media competitors in a capital city or four competitors in a country region.”

a) Respondents were asked: “Do you agree or disagree with the proposal to abolish cross-media ownership restrictions?”

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Voting Intenion
	Aug 3-7, 2006	Aug 9/10, 2006	L-NP	ALP	Dems^	Greens^	Family First^	Ind/ Other^	Can’t Say^
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	13	33	42	28	11	17	30	28	37
Disagree	87	52	41	61	76	72	63	66	40
Can’t say	-	15	17	11	13	11	7	6	23
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	Aug 3-7, 2006	Aug 9/10, 2006	Men	Women	14-17^	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	13	33	40	27	37	36	39	33	30
Disagree	87	52	49	55	44	51	50	54	53
Can’t say	-	15	11	18	19	13	11	13	17
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

b) Respondents were then asked: “And about the proposal to drop the present restriction on foreign ownership of TV stations — do you agree or disagree?”

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Voting Intenion
	Aug 3-7, 2006	Aug 9/10, 2006	L-NP	ALP	Dems^	Greens^	Family First^	Ind/ Other^	Can’t Say^
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	24	24	23	20	-	14	32	35	36
Disagree	74	64	65	70	93	74	52	62	45
Can’t say	2	12	12	10	7	12	16	3	19
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	Aug 3-7, 2006	Aug 9/10, 2006	Men	Women	14-17^	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	24	24	28	20	26	28	28	24	20
Disagree	74	64	63	65	60	56	59	66	69
Can’t say	2	12	9	15	14	16	13	10	11
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

c) Respondents were then asked: “And about maintaining the limit of three commercial free-to-air television stations in capital cities?”

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Voting Intenion
	Aug 3-7, 2006	Aug 9/10, 2006	L-NP	ALP	Dems^	Greens^	Family First^	Ind/ Other^	Can’t say^
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	28	55	60	51	62	47	59	46	56
Disagree	70	35	34	39	38	44	25	38	26
Can’t say	2	10	6	10	-	9	16	16	18
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	Aug 3-7, 2006	Aug 9/10, 2006	Men	Women	14-17^	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	28	55	57	53	60	54	43	60	57
Disagree	70	35	37	33	32	34	50	32	31
Can’t say	2	10	6	14	8	12	7	8	12
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

2. Diversity of Media in Australia

Respondents were asked: “How do you think the Government’s proposed media changes will affect diversity of media in Australia?”

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Voting Intenion
	Aug 3-7, 2006	Aug 9/10, 2006	L-NP	ALP	Dems^	Greens^	Family First^	Ind/ Other^	Can’t  Say^
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Increase diversity	5	17	22	14	5	12	14	13	13
Maintain existing levels of diversity	10	28	35	24	20	12	22	9	33
Reduce diversity	85	35	21	48	75	62	31	51	21
Can’t say	-	20	22	14	-	14	33	27	33
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	Aug 3-7, 2006	Aug 9/10, 2006	Men	Women	14-17^	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Increase diversity	5	17	20	14	16	20	16	20	13
Maintain existing levels of diversity	10	28	28	28	44	29	33	25	25
Reduce diversity	85	35	36	34	13	35	39	38	35
Can’t say	-	20	16	24	27	16	12	17	27
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

3. Integrity of the Media

Respondents were asked: “How will the proposed changes to media ownership in Australia affect the integrity of media reporting?”

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Voting Intenion
	Aug 3-7, 2006	August 9/10, 2006	L-NP	ALP	Dems^	Greens^	Family First^	Ind/ Other^	Can’t say^
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Positively	2	14	16	12	9	5	25	13	19
Negatively	82	36	23	47	73	57	45	51	22
No effect	16	34	41	29	18	26	23	31	35
Can’t say	-	16	20	12	-	12	7	5	24
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	Aug 3-7, 2006	August 9/10, 2006	Men	Women	14-17^	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Positively	2	14	15	14	23	17	15	13	13
Negatively	82	36	37	35	17	30	33	44	37
No effect	16	34	39	30	43	37	41	31	30
Can’t say	-	16	9	21	17	16	11	12	20
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

4) Influence of Media in Australia

a) Respondents were asked: “How much influence do Australian media companies and owners have in determining the political agenda?”

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Voting Intenion
	Aug 3-7, 2006	August 9/10, 2006	L-NP	ALP	Dems^	Greens^	Family First^	Ind/ Other^	Can’t  Say^
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Too much influence	71	61	58	70	72	73	54	62	44
About the right amount of influence	20	20	25	19	11	6	8	13	22
Not particularly influential	9	11	8	8	17	13	30	15	22
Can’t say	-	8	9	3	-	8	8	10	12
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	Aug 3-7, 2006	August 9/10, 2006	Men	Women	14-17^	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Too much influence	71	61	61	61	36	61	57	65	64
About the right amount of influence	20	20	21	20	24	23	22	22	17
Not particularly influential	9	11	12	10	28	14	15	7	9
Can’t say	-	8	6	9	12	2	6	6	10
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

b) Respondents were asked: “How much influence do Australian media companies and owners have in determining how Australian electors vote?”

	MEAA Journalists	All Australians 14+	Analysis by Voting Intenion
	Aug 3-7, 2006	August 9/10, 2006	L-NP	ALP	Dems^	Greens^	Family First^	Ind/ Other^	Can’t  Say^
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Too much influence	63	57	54	68	64	64	62	53	35
About the right amount of influence	23	23	26	16	24	13	-	10	41
Not particularly influential	14	13	14	12	12	15	21	18	14
Can’t say	-	7	6	4	-	8	17	19	10
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

MEAA Journalists