Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Thursday she has been "shocked and disgusted" by the scandal engulfing News Corp. (NWS) in the U.K and indicated that it could trigger a wider review of the media in the country.

"I will be happy to sit down with parliamentarians and discuss that review that people are obviously contemplating," said Gillard in a press conference after a speech given at the National Press Club in Canberra.

A spokesman for News Corp.'s Australian unit in Sydney declined to comment.

There is a review of electronic media convergence already underway, though print media isn't covered by this review, said Gillard.

Australia's Greens party leader Bob Brown called again Thursday for a wide-ranging review of into the ownership and regulation of the print media. Brown, a key supporter of Gillard's minority government, said last week that he would table a motion in Australia's Senate calling for the Minister for Communications, Stephen Conroy, to "investigate the direct or indirect ramifications to Australia of the criminal matters affecting the U.K. operations of News International."

A spokesman for Conroy was unreachable for comment.

"It's not our decision," said Alex McGregor, acting spokesman for the Australia Communications and Media Authority, which regulates part of the industry. A spokesman for opposition lawmaker Malcolm Turnbull, who holds the shadow communications and broadband brief, couldn't immediately comment. The Australian Press Council regulates newspapers but an official from the independent body wasn't available for comment.

Calls to widen reviews of News Corp. outside the U.K. are growing with five U.S. lawmakers--including House and Senate committee chairmen--calling for investigations into the phone-hacking scandal, with one suggesting that alleged violations may have occurred in the U.S. and go beyond reporting tactics in Britain.

But some industry experts in Australia were skeptical Thursday following Gillard's statement that any such review could take place.

"It's frankly a bit of an attention grab," said Mark Hollands, chief executive of the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers' Association, who was previously an employee of Dow Jones & Co. in Sydney, leaving in 2007. "There is no evidence anything happened here," Hollands said in reference to alleged phone hacking in the U.K.

The chief executive of the News Corp.'s (NWS) Australian unit on Wednesday moved to distance News Ltd. operations from the problems in the U.K. by launching its own internal review of its editorial operations. In a note to News Ltd. staff, local Chief Executive John Hartigan said the unit "will be conducting a thorough review of all editorial expenditure over the past three years to confirm that payments to contributors and other third parties were legitimate services."

News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this newswire and The Wall Street Journal. In Australia, the company owns the country's only broadsheet national newspaper, other tabloid titles, a stake in pay television company Foxtel and news television station Sky News. News Corp.'s chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch originates in Australia and started his media empire in the country.

-By Ray Brindal, Dow Jones Newswires; +61-2-62080902; ray.brindal@dowjones.com

Fairfax Media (ASX:FXJ)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024 Click Here for more Fairfax Media Charts.
Fairfax Media (ASX:FXJ)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2023 to Jun 2024 Click Here for more Fairfax Media Charts.