Proposal For An Independent Media Council
In order to hold the press accountable to journalistic standards of accuracy, fairness, impartiality, integrity, and independence the 28 February 2012 Report of the Independent Inquiry into Media and Media Regulation proposes the creation of an independent News Media Council covering all platforms (print, online, radio and television) with the power to order changes to published content, publication of a right of reply by anyone or any organisation that makes a complaint, and the publication of an apology. Refusal to comply could result in the author, media organisation, or blogger being accused of contempt, a trial by a court, and the possibility of the fines and/or prison sentences associated with contempt of court findings.
The proposal would have the effect of converting the code of ethics of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) into laws enforceable by the courts. There is a risk that small publishers and bloggers may feel coerced into publishing corrections or apologies when they lack the time, energy, or resources to defend themselves in court against a contempt charge.
Read more about this topic: Internet Censorship In Australia
Famous quotes containing the words independent, media and/or council:
“So far as I am individually concerned, & independent of my pocket, it is my earnest desire to write those sort of books which are said to “fail.””
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“One can describe a landscape in many different words and sentences, but one would not normally cut up a picture of a landscape and rearrange it in different patterns in order to describe it in different ways. Because a photograph is not composed of discrete units strung out in a linear row of meaningful pieces, we do not understand it by looking at one element after another in a set sequence. The photograph is understood in one act of seeing; it is perceived in a gestalt.”
—Joshua Meyrowitz, U.S. educator, media critic. “The Blurring of Public and Private Behaviors,” No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior, Oxford University Press (1985)
“There by some wrinkled stones round a leafless tree
With beards askew, their eyes dull and wild
Twelve ragged men, the council of charity
Wandering the face of the earth a fatherless child....”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)