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| Australian Premier Tries to Save Media Oversight Law | |
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| SYDNEY, Australia — Prime Minister Julia Gillard was trying on Wednesday to salvage contentious media-oversight legislation that has angered much of the Australian news industry, emboldened the political opposition and reignited speculation about a leadership challenge from within her governing Labor Party. | SYDNEY, Australia — Prime Minister Julia Gillard was trying on Wednesday to salvage contentious media-oversight legislation that has angered much of the Australian news industry, emboldened the political opposition and reignited speculation about a leadership challenge from within her governing Labor Party. |
| Ms. Gillard, who became Australia’s first female prime minister in a 2010 party coup that ousted Kevin Rudd, has seen her poll ratings plummet since announcing in January that federal elections would be held in September. The unusually early announcement kicked off an already bruising election season, in which virtually every legislative move is being analyzed for clues to Ms. Gillard’s political health. | Ms. Gillard, who became Australia’s first female prime minister in a 2010 party coup that ousted Kevin Rudd, has seen her poll ratings plummet since announcing in January that federal elections would be held in September. The unusually early announcement kicked off an already bruising election season, in which virtually every legislative move is being analyzed for clues to Ms. Gillard’s political health. |
| At issue is legislation proposed by Stephen Conroy, the communications minister, following up on an inquiry into news media practices that Ms. Gillard announced in 2011 at the height of the phone hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Episodes in the scandal occurred primarily in Britain, and no major allegations were ever substantiated against Mr. Murdoch’s Australian media holdings. | At issue is legislation proposed by Stephen Conroy, the communications minister, following up on an inquiry into news media practices that Ms. Gillard announced in 2011 at the height of the phone hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Episodes in the scandal occurred primarily in Britain, and no major allegations were ever substantiated against Mr. Murdoch’s Australian media holdings. |
| But the new proposals — particularly the creation of a government post given responsibility for overseeing the news media’s self-regulatory bodies and determining whether media mergers can proceed — were greeted by some of Australia’s leading media outlets with a scathing public campaign. The Daily Telegraph, a tabloid, published a front-page spread that grouped Mr. Conroy with such enemies of a free press as Mao Zedong, Kim Jong-il and Joseph Stalin. | |
| Greg Hywood, the chief executive of Fairfax Media, which publishes The Sydney Morning Herald, also criticized the proposals as an affront to democratic principles. He told Parliament this week that the appointment of a regulator “will have seriously dangerous consequences for good government.” | |
| Susan Forde, a professor of journalism at Griffith University, said the proposed media laws were “fairly weak and timid.” | |
| “These proposals are nothing to get excited about and certainly nothing to be concerned about in terms of our democracy and freedom,” she said Wednesday. | |
| The proposals fall well short of some of the changes recommended by the panel that investigated Australian media practices. That body, led by a former federal judge, Ray Finkelstein, called for direct government oversight over print and online news media and the creation of a statutory regulator with the power to prosecute media companies. | The proposals fall well short of some of the changes recommended by the panel that investigated Australian media practices. That body, led by a former federal judge, Ray Finkelstein, called for direct government oversight over print and online news media and the creation of a statutory regulator with the power to prosecute media companies. |
| For Ms. Gillard, more worrisome than the hostility from the media has been her inability to get the independent lawmakers upon whom her fragile government relies to support the proposals, which has underscored the sense that she is politically vulnerable. | For Ms. Gillard, more worrisome than the hostility from the media has been her inability to get the independent lawmakers upon whom her fragile government relies to support the proposals, which has underscored the sense that she is politically vulnerable. |
| The independent Tasmanian lawmaker Andrew Wilkie backed away from the legislation on Wednesday despite heavy lobbying from the government. Another independent, Bob Katter, also said late Wednesday that he could not support the bill, which is scheduled to come up for a vote on Thursday. | The independent Tasmanian lawmaker Andrew Wilkie backed away from the legislation on Wednesday despite heavy lobbying from the government. Another independent, Bob Katter, also said late Wednesday that he could not support the bill, which is scheduled to come up for a vote on Thursday. |
| Ms. Gillard has led a tenuous minority government since her parliamentary majority was diminished in a disappointing 2010 election. Although she beat back a leadership challenge from Mr. Rudd early in 2012, she has since slid in the polls against Tony Abbott, the leader of the opposition Liberal-National coalition. | |