This submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Regional Newspapers by Broome journalist Andrew Chambers was rejected by the Committee for containing content “adverse” to another party so we published it here.

 

I live in Broome, Western Australia, in the fiefdom of Kerry Stokes, owner of the Seven West network. 

Our regional weekly is The Broome Advertiser which offers little in the way of news in a traditional sense. It fills the columns between advertisements with a variety of re-written press releases, opinion pieces and the very occasional facsimile of news when it suits the editorial diktat. 

My understanding of what news should be is probably one based on a romantic notion, that it  should attempt to retain some balance in reporting on an issue, to inform the public debate on issues that are of importance to the readership of the community. That, I had hoped, would include some attempt at fact-checking or seeking the response of named parties in any piece being published. 

This is almost explicitly not the case when it comes to publication of items under the banner of “news” in the Advertiser. It is invariably a trenchant supporter of big business and a slavish correspondent on behalf of those who take out advertising space, evidently the larger the  advertisement, the more lavish and purple the prose. 

By way of example I include the two photos, the first of an advertisement, full page, and a  corresponding “news” article on the opposite facing page. 

The advertisement was placed by the local Native Title Group, one of two full page “advertorials” published by them, at members expense, in response to a very messy and telling dispute between hereditary Traditional Owners and the local Native Title Body Corporate and Corporations over a land dispute that has seen the hereditary TOs, elders and families evicted from their traditional  country and the government funded infrastructure that was on that land, left to scavengers, vandals  and eventual demolition. 

News or big business views?

As for the “news” article on opposite facing page to the advertisement, when the editor of the paper was questioned (by telephone) on statements made in the article, he claimed to have spoken “with one of the protesting members over lunch that day” which I called into question as to who it may have been and how that was relevant to an article that had most obviously been penned some days prior to the distribution of the paper that day. He angrily hung up.  

This is cheque book journalism at its worst and is both dangerous and corrosive in a community  dealing with a great deal of historic injustice and ongoing dispossession. The members of the  Native Title Group have struggled for years to have their say but find themselves outgunned by the executive who control the asset and have unlimited funds and support for any legal offensive or defence 

This kind of reporting further disenfranchises important voices and conveys very dangerous and  libellous characterisations. But there is no cash for them to mount a case, not enough to take on the overwhelming power of this media group nor the lesser, but substantial, means of the PBC. 

We sought some review, but alas, 7 West has exempted itself from the sanction or review of the Press Council, preferring instead its own internal process, it was hardly worth the waste of any more time and energy. 

Some time passed and the editor moved on to new and innocent pastures, his replacement came  promising a revamp of the paper’s editorial process claiming that the recently awarded millions from the social media giants settlement would underwrite a new and fearless independence in  journalism and editorial independence from the notorious sub editors in Perth who are known for their ability to completely re-write a story to suit the cut and bias of the group. It was a claim that seemed to be holding true until the arrival of the recent electoral campaign for  the local council. 

Theoretically (as described in the laws governing candidacy and council representation) local  councillors are supposed to be independent, non partisan, representatives of the ratepayers and residents deciding issues via robust debate and open polls.  

Practice dictates that debate is a needless waste of time, that the forming of “blocks” around  common interest are far more efficient and predictable for the administration of Council as it competes for the attention and cash of state and federal governments keen to build tourism and  other industry. 

 

Two camps imbalance

Our shire has broken into two camps, the dominant party represents conservative business interests and is the dominant block, the other camp represents any other interest outside of the primacy of capital; the environment, First Nations interests, the interests of the poor and the aged. 

The Advertiser’s stance is, and was, firmly in support of the business interests and the block. It happily misrepresented the views of the most prominent of the opposing camp, took their money for advertising but did nothing in the way of editorial support, unlike the enormous effort that went into the final edition of the paper before the election weekend. 

In collaboration with the Local Chamber of Commerce, not un-coincidentally chaired by one of the  prime candidates for election, it produced a lavish full colour, on quality paper, wrap-around  featuring the chairman candidate in glowing reports on no less than five occasions with full colour photographs. 

It also had many special reports featuring the block’s numerous achievements in  shepherding the tens of millions of state and federal money spent renovating the business district and Town Beach, ministerial plaudits and breathless stories on future projects at the centre of the  block’s agenda for the coming term. 

Despite a strong grass roots campaign the opposing members were unable to muster enough votes,  

This is a very dangerous outcome for a town that is at the bleeding edge of serious social issues surrounding the plight of dispossessed indigenous people, the commercial onslaught of drugs, legal  and illegal, that are devastating the town with crime, violence and attendant other problems. It wouldn’t be so bad if this paper were just a lone aberrant organ. It is one finger on the huge body of a powerful media monopoly in Western Australia. 

Seven West is the dominant force in our local media, it has the 6 pm news, The West Australian newspaper, the local FM radio stations playing all the hits and a strong presence on social media  and the web. It is a political king or queen making machine that works with its advertisers and  business partners to steer the agenda at every level of politics in this state and is virtually unchallenged at every level. 

 

But the ABC?

We are fortunate to have a local ABC station which you might hope was a bastion of some sort of  local interest and championing of the underdog but thanks to the continual cuts made by  consecutive governments, it’s ability to be anything but a roaring tiger from the safety of Sydney and Melbourne, is a tragedy for us in the regions. Its ability to report is limited and it has no  resources to defend itself when the going gets legally contentious.  

When we took the story of the dispossession of the TO’s to them we were asked to provide our own  legal opinion as to whether the story might withstand the challenges of the rich and litigious Native Title Body. Given the complainants were all over 80 years old and retirees the imbalance of power is obvious, the silencing deafening. 

The only difference between our local paper and the local  ABC is that the paper makes a profit out of rewriting the press releases.  

This news may be heartening to some of the panel, but for me this is a complete betrayal and abandonment of the promise of the ABC. It has become, like our paper, a tabloid devoted to slavish praise and shallow questioning of the powerful, padding its output with gossip and trivia quizzes, left with but one vital use, to be the broadcaster of last resort in an emergency. 

Even in that the cuts have rendered it increasingly useless with the power of its transmissions readily overwhelmed by signals from Indonesia and further afield as you move away from town and up the coast. 

 

Lame officialdom

I wish that there was something that this panel could do but given the balance of power and a two party system beholden to the favours of the media tycoons and their empires, really, what is the  point of this? 

We have ombudsmen at every level with such limited resources and legislative remit that they are all but useless. This parliament has empowered an oversight body, ORIC, to supposedly supervise the governance of Aboriginal Body Corporates. In its history it has made three retrospective adverse findings against directors who have bankrupted their corporations vested with lands, titles and cash, compensation that held the promise of a better future for the members. 

Year after year Aboriginal RNTBCs are regularly being stripped of that hope while that body slumbers or its members take seats on the very boards it supposedly oversees.  

No-one sees it, no-one reports it out here, there’s too much money to be made amongst the network of mates and acquaintances exchanging favour and cash. There is however great news in the ever expanding calamity of indigenous misery and anger which spills onto the street as ever more brazen and dangerous crime, the cycle perpetuates, the roles are cast and the machine of state lumbers on using Seven West to shout it’s war cry at an election for more police, more law, more order. 

It is a diabolical apparatus that has no discernible limits, out here in the regions and down there in the cities we are the playthings of tycoons with limitless ambition unhindered by any law that can’t be changed or avoided with the power of the press or legal campaigns seemingly without end. 

 

A solution: opt-in only

I hope against hope that this Committee, the report, may find some means to re-balance the power dynamic and tilt us back toward democracy and some semblance of the representation of all  community interest in regional papers, regional radio, TV and politics.

If not, our future is bleak. We face an escalation in the rise of temperature, oceans and of civil unrest and insurrection as the anger and frustration rise against the very real lack of franchise and  agency in making the necessary change that can hold back the predator businesses so keen to frack this country (a business interest of our paper’s proprietor), massive mono culture agribusiness dependent on the vital aquifers and virgin rivers of this unique wilderness (another of his business interests) and other mining and mineral plays (unsurprisingly another key business at the core of  the empire).  

All on these lands being rapidly being denuded of the traditional people, their languages and  cultures while we build regional administrative centres to deliver aid, legal remedy and punishment  at enormous cost to the public purse and the lives of our fellow Australians. 

Again, I ask what is it that you can do with this inquiry into the finger of a body that’s so intent on making it’s own way, unhindered by your inquiry?  

In consideration of practical responses I do have one suggestion that would be helpful. That legislation be put in place requiring the delivery of these papers to be strictly “opt-in” only. Apart from the obvious damage to community health, well being and cohesion, it’s also a tremendous source of litter as many of these papers are either left where they’re thrown or simply transferred from the ground to a bin. It may also help independent publications gain a foothold if they’re not  being swamped by a throw away competitor who’s only commercial goal is “distribution figures”. 

I thank you for the time taken in consideration and wish you well in the quest for some remedy to the near impossible problem you consider.

 

READ MORE:

https://michaelwest.com.au/a-cry-from-the-regions-media-dominated-by-billionaires-and-corporations-is-not-journalism/

 

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