2nd UPDATE: Australia's PM Eyes Media Review Amid News Corp Scandal
14 July 2011 - 5:34PM
Dow Jones News
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 anticipate we'll have a discussion amongst parliamentarians
about this, about the best review and way of dealing with all of
this," said Gillard in a press conference after a speech given at
the National Press Club in Canberra.
"News Limited will co-operate with any inquiry into media in
Australia," the company said in a statement, but said lawmakers
will need to provide clarity on the scope of such an inquiry.
Threats to widen probes 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. In the U.K., the government has initiated a judicial
inquiry into News Corp. and press standards.
Australia's Greens party leader Bob Brown called again Thursday
for a wide-ranging review 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.
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 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 and Enda Curran, Dow Jones Newswires;
+61-2-62080902; ray.brindal@dowjones.com
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