Laws for Regulating the Media Sector - Report Example

Media Regulation Name Institution Course Lecturer Date Media play an important social political role in every democratic state. Its influence has been increasing with technological growth. It is normally charged in the role of fulfilling and deepening the democratic function of a nation: In bringing the abuse of power as well as the process to light and ensuring that the opponent to the government are free to challenge the state actions. The importance of press is therefore undisputed. Despite that, healthy media regulation still remains important in any given country .Media regulations are achieved through procedures, law and regulations and is attained through content and media ownership regulation .The paper further scrutinizes the importance of media in democratic states and the most appropriate way of introducing and implementing these regulations (Tumber,2013). As Namen & Kinnison, (2011) observes, the advancement in technology has been making it necessary for states to enact laws for regulating media sector. For example, the use of internet has been on an increase and as has been seen in the recent days, there has been a rapid technological change in the sector. Due to this, children have to be protected from materials that may affect their health development. There has been a greater convergence of different media technologies, services and platforms and unlike before, media is now being accessed from homes via high speed media broad band networks. These avenues as has recently been witnessed, has been used by terrorists in planning various forms of crimes making it necessary for the government to intervene. This makes it necessary to have sound regulatory measures that ensure that media is used in the way that is beneficial to the whole nation. According to Gilardi & Maggetti (2011) media regulation is very necessary in democratic nations though it is faced with a lot of opposition. This is to ensure that it is carried out in a way that is accountable to the public. The main goal for media regulation in these countries Media should essentially serve the public interest but sometimes this can be compromised to serve the need of few individuals. Any failure by media to be accountable is a true deficiency in democracy and stand for failure to hold other power sources to account. Media can at times be used to relay propaganda on carry out some unprofessional practices that could be very offensive (Pickard, 2011). Despite the crucial informative role that media play, there some details that are not fit for public consumption and not healthy to be released to public. Media can be regulated on the basis of content or ownership. There are a number of reasons that make states to undertake these regulations. In most countries, no media is allowed to expose children under 18 to any pornographic staff and the law is very clear on the way to handle this issue in order to prevent the mind of children from getting corrupt. In most democratic nations, media is barred from broadcasting some military secrets that can be used by terrorists or enemy state against a nation (Hind, 2012) Further to that, the other reason for media regulation in democratic states is the protection of the cultural diversity of a nation. In these cases, the minimum requirement for the local content in the Television and radio programs is set .This is to ensure that the culture of various groups in a nation is not eroded by the foreign or imported culture. In line with that, these regulations enable a nation to nature the local talents of citizens and this way create employment for the citizens. This kind of regulation is highly followed in the Australian media sector. Lastly, it is good to note that Media ethics can only impacted if there is a clear framework for the media sector. These regulations are useful I to nations especially when it comes to emergency times. In times of such things as terrorist attacks, the provision allows the state to prevent rumors and panic. This was witnessed in 2008 in India when Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was attacked by terrorists. Without sound regulation, media can mess a society. A community can be full of propaganda while young children could be In Australia, these regulations are enacted and implemented in order to set and enforce the country journalists standards in all media in all areas with the online also included. The greater power that Australian media has requires a lot of accountability. As was pointed out in Finkelstein report, the media system in the country happens to be weak, fragmented and unsatisfactory in the way that it handles complaints. Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) is the body that acts as the broadcasting regulator for televisions and radio in Australia. The body co regulates any online content scheme. Australian Press Council is the body that deals with all complaints on editorial materials like magazines and magazines (McKnight & Hobbs, 2013 According to Flew & Swift (2013) news of the World Media hacking scandal is one major issue that drove recent reforms in Australia. In the last three years, there have been attempts to regulate media in the country following the unethical act. These have also been initiated by various recommendations given in the Ray Finkelste report. The report noted that there was a great gap between the mainstream media and its consumers and that the gap was continually growing bigger. Some of the recommendations in the report included were establishment of government funded News Media council and compulsory membership across all forms of media including blogs. The only issue with the report is that it never had the capacity to deal with the internet related issues, a matter that affects the under 18 year old children The convergence review is another report that pointed at the need to have various media regulation policies. This report was recommended a greater cooperation among different commonwealth states. It also recommended that children under 18 years be protected from any materials that may corrupt their mind and healthy growth. The report proposed that adults be allowed to; make decisions on the content to consume within the state legal framework. These were some of the recommendations made in the report. These two recommendations and some of the unethical acts by media open way for the various proposals that have been tabled in the parliament (Flew & Swift, 2013) In the last three years there have been active attempts to regulate media in Australia following the two reports- the convergence review and the Ray Finkelste report. These attempts have been watered down by some criticisms that have made these. The News media Bill of 2013 is such an example of a regulation measure that never went through. The bill provided Public Interest Media advocate PIMA with a position to declare a corporate body as a way of media self regulation. The bill also specified the condition for making a declaration and as it takes effect; the PIMA is to remove a declaration the requirements and conditions for the revocation and the time it take effect as well as the review of the operation of the act in three years (McKnight & Hobbs, 2013). There were a total of six proposed bills. These proposals received wide criticism from the local and international media groups. Following these uproars, the parliament rejected the proposals. On March 21st 2013, Prime Minister Julia withdrew the proposals that would have brought the greatest impact on the Australian media. The parliament rejection and the withdrawal of the proposal by the prime minister came a great relieve to the media fraternity that had strongly opposed the action Critics to the proposed bill felt that the bill would have resulted to de-factor licensing system, which would have made the media sector highly subject to government pressure. Any media that would operate outside the system would therefore face numerous restrictions and thus negatively affect their operations. Further to that, the any media acquisition would require the approval of the statutory body. This was made serious by the fact that, the vagueness on the approval would make the body have an enormous discretion. That is how the 2013 bill was sunk contrary to the government wish (Cunningham, & Turnbull, 2014). In conclusion one can say that, media is an important sector for the social, political and economic life of any nation if it is carried out in a healthy manner. Unhealthy media is characterized with violation of public interests through unethical behaviors. Regulation through content and media ownership is therefore is unavoidable for any sober state. Some degrees of control are inevitable. As much as media would not wish to have the government interference, the government has to come in through making laws on media matters for national interests. For acceptance purposes, it is important that the government involve all the stakeholders in making these regulations and ensure that it partners with all the stakeholders in the media sector in dealing with the challenges that it is facing. There has to be a difference in the way that a democratic and dictatorial state introduce and implement media regulations. References Cunningham, S D, & Turnbull, S 2014 The media and communications in Australia Allen & Unwin Flew, T, & Swift, A 2013 Regulating journalists? The Finkelstein Review, the Convergence Review and news media regulation in Australia Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, 21, 181-199 Gilardi, F, & Maggetti, M 2011 14 The independence of regulatory authorities Handbook on the Politics of Regulation, 201 Hind, D 2012 The Return of the Public: Democracy, Power and the Case for Media Reform Verso Books McKnight, D, & Hobbs, M 2013 Public contest through the popular media: The mining industry's advertising war against the Australian labor government Australian Journal of Political Science, 483, 307-319 Namen, V, & Kinnison, K 2011 Argument for the College Coach's Right to Regulate Social Media, An Miss Sports L Rev, 1, 205 Pickard, V 2011 The battle over the FCC Blue Book: determining the role of broadcast media in a democratic society, 1945-8 Media, Culture & Society, 332, 171-191 Tumber, H Ed 2013 Media power, professionals and policies Routledge Read More