Call to extend press watchdog to broadcasting and online

Tim Burrowes

May 14, 2009 4:06

The Australian Press Council should attempt to massively expand its remit to TV, radio and online news sites, an influential member of the self-regulation watchdog has today proposed.

Writing on the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance website, Alan Kennedy – a former president of the journalists’ union and a current member of the Australian Press Council warns:

“The Internet has seen an explosion of online media, from serious to frivolous and something in between. Most of it is unregulated. All newspapers have an online presence which we assume to be part of our remit, but it is not guaranteed.

“Television stations have online websites which look like a newspaper website but which we may or may not have some authority over. Television journalism is policed by the broadcasting authority (ACMA) using prescribed and clunky procedures which lack the speed that the Press Council can bring to complaints. Much of this is because a complaint to ACMA over some piece of journalism can put a network’s licence in play So the networks approach complaints seriously. Lawyers become involved and a simple complaint that we could deal with in a single meeting can go on for months, sometimes years.

Subscribe to keep reading

Join Mumbrella Pro to access the Mumbrella archive and read our premium analysis of everything under the media and marketing umbrella.

Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.