AUSTRALIA: The ruling Labor Party has asked...

AUSTRALIA: The ruling Labor Party has asked the government to conduct an inquiry into Australia’s newspaper and magazine industries. A resolution passed at the party’s national conference calls for a parliamentary inquiry into the ownership, distribution and information-gathering sources of newspapers and magazines. Ownership of many of Australia’s newspapers and magazines is concentrated in three or four companies. In particular, Rupert Murdock’s News Corp. controls 60% to 70% of the nation’s major newspapers, and billionaire Kerry Packer owns several of the most popular magazines and a television network. The inquiry will investigate the extent to which concentration of ownership hinders potential competitors. It will seek to determine if regulations should be introduced to limit concentration of ownership.