The West Australian signals it is willing to consider rejoining the Australian Press Council
Wharton
The West Australian has signalled its willingness to discuss rejoining the industry self regulator for print and online, the Australian Press Council, after a three year absence, Mumbrella can reveal.
Chris Wharton, who heads Seven West Media in Western Australia, which includes the publisher’s newspaper assets, has responded to statements by the new chair of the APC by saying they are open to discussions over rejoining the body, assuming guarantees can be made about preventing government involvement.
Asked about comments made last Friday to Mumbrella by new APC chair David Weisbrot, which called on The West Australian to return, Wharton responded: “We’d be happy to talk to Mr Weisbrot.”Wharton said the publisher was pleased to see Weisbrot’s comments about press freedom but said for the publisher to consider returning it would need guarantees that the body would never become government funded.
Oh, how nice and accommodating the new Press Council chair is being towards media outlets. Looks like everyone is going to be happy again. As long as the Press Council doesn’t do its actual job of holding the media to account, the media bosses will readily be a part of it. Self-regulation DOES NOT WORK.