media reform, page-25

Article in the Australian dated 21st August:

The Turnbull government’s bid to bring media legislation into the 21st century is still alive as the Nick Xenophon Team continues to negotiate over tax write-offs for small outlets despite an uneasy political stalemate.
The media reform bill hit a roadblock after the government knocked back the NXT’s proposal, with Communications Minister Mitch Fifield declaring it was not “appropriate” for tax breaks to benefit foreign multinational media organisations such as Guardian Australia.
“I am working on this in good faith with the government,” Senator Xenophon told the Sunday Agenda program on Sky News yesterday. “My language has been conciliatory, has been moderate. I will be putting renewed effort into this. I understand the urgency. I am still hoping for a breakthrough and I think if both sides are willing to negotiate in goodwill and in good faith we can get through this sooner rather than later.”
The Senate powerbroker wants the government to offer tax breaks to small media outfits in the hope of hiring more journalists and injecting greater diversity into the sector.
While the cost to the taxpayer is not likely to be substantial, Senator Fifield said any intervention in this space required “careful consideration and extensive public debate”.
Under the proposal, beneficiaries of the scheme could include Private Media, publisher of Crikey, and Schwartz Media, which is owned by property developer Morry Schwartz and publishes The Saturday Paper, The Monthly and the Quarterly Essays.
The deadlock means a vote on the reforms, which have unanimous industry backing, has been delayed for at least another fortnight. A deal between the parties had been close on Thursday night, but the Liberal partyroom rejected tax offsets worth up to $50 million as unworkable.
Asked to what extent the initiative was a deal breaker, and whether he was prepared to risk jeopardising the passing of the historic package, Senator Xenophon said: “It’s really important that we look at what has happened to Australian media in this country. Three thousand journalism jobs have been lost. It’s a very tough business made much tougher because of the virtual market dominance of Google and Facebook and social media platforms.
“If we value our democracy, we need to value our media and the content providers and that’s why I am sticking out on this.”
Media executives are furious at the delay to the reform bills and see it as another sign of the dysfunction in parliament. Senator Xenophon has already won other concessions including a probe by the competition regulator into the Google and Facebook online ad duopoly, and a ban on gambling ads during sports broadcasts.
Senator Xenophon also told Sky News he was confident the High Court would find he was eligible to sit in parliament after confirming he was a British overseas citizen by descent.