Censors Down Under

Last week I went on the local NPR affiliate to discuss media consolidation. It was a phone-in show, and one listener called in to praise the Australian broadcasting system. Because they have state-supported public radio and TV, he argued, they didn't have to worry about offending corporate owners and sponsors; the result was broadcasting that was much more independent, particularly on matters such as the Iraq war.

I replied by pointing out that government owners could be just as meddlesome as their corporate counterparts, and offered some examples from the Thatcher-era BBC. I didn't realize it, but an even better example was about to unfold in Australia itself. "The Federal Government is considering installing an independent censor with powers over the [Australian Broadcasting Corporation] if the broadcaster does not satisfactorily answer Communications Minister Richard Alston's charge that its reporting of the Iraq war was biased," The Age reports. "After requesting an extraordinary investigation into 60 charges of bias against the ABC Radio's AM program yesterday, Senator Alston last night told The Age this was the ABC's last chance to prove that it could deal with complaints in a balanced manner."

You can read some of Alston's specific complaints here. Perhaps you agree with them; perhaps you don't; and perhaps you think they're a mixed bag. The essential point is that when you depend on the government for support, you're also at the government's mercy. It's no more disinterested an owner than a corporation, and arguably less so.