Updated 5 minutes ago in The Australian The Nick Xenophon Team...

Updated 5 minutes ago in The Australian

The Nick Xenophon Team is preparing to announce a deal on the government’s media reform package after demanding funding to boost the number of cadet journalists and better resource regional newsrooms.
Party leader Nick Xenophon has been locked in talks with Communications Minister Mitch Fifield to finish thrashing out the deal, which The Australian was told did not have a final dollar figure.
The government’s sweeping media overhaul already has the support of the four One Nation senators and Derryn Hinch but the three Nick Xenophon Team senators and the votes of two other independents will be critical if the reforms are to finally pass parliament.
Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie today announced she would not support the package because of the “dirty” deal between the government and One Nation, which could see the public broadcasters subjected to strict new oversight measures.
Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi said his party “broadly supported” the media reforms but would wait to see how they were modified by the crossbench.

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The government has repeatedly said the Broadcasting Reform bill will be put to the Senate in its current form and any crossbench changes would be voted on, where necessary, separately to the package.
Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm said he had always been in favour of media reforms but cautioned against any money going to the Green Left Weekly or The Guardian.
“If money went to The Guardian I’d reconsider my position. Minister Fifield is well aware of that,” he said.
NXT’s communications spokesman Stirling Griff said the party would reserve its final position “for now” and there was “more than can be done” to help smaller news organisations.
Senator Griff said the parliament could not simply repeal the two-out-of-three ownership rule — which prevents a person controlling a radio station, television network and newspaper in the same market — and “walk away”.
As revealed in The Australian, the NXT has proposed a funding package to give smaller entities an extra boost before any recommendations from an Australian Competition & Consumer Commission inquiry into the impact of Facebook and Google on journalism come into effect.
“We can help protect diversity by taking some of the financial pressures off smaller players in order to help them thrive. We will keep negotiating with the government in good faith, in order to achieve this aim,” Senator Griff said.
“What we don’t want is for the current laws to assist in the slow death of Australian news media. We need to act in order to provide Australian media with a more level playing field and a legislative environment that is more responsive to the modern operating landscape. If we don’t, we may eventually be left consuming little more than mindless click-bait and ‘fake news’ with our morning cornflakes, or smashed avocado.”
Negotiations on the media reforms, which have unanimous industry back, hit a roadblock last month after the government rejected the NXT’s push for tax breaks for media companies with an annual turnover of up to $25 million.