With the crossbench calling for greater media regulation, is News Corp doing a spot of lobbying of its own? According to a Crikey tipster, executive chairman of News Corp Australia Michael Miller was seen coming out of the ministerial wing of Parliament House on Tuesday afternoon.
It would be interesting timing, to say the least — what with the debate that very same day regarding an inquiry into media diversity in Australia, with independent MP Zoe Daniel speaking forcefully for a review of a system that had allowed two companies to be “responsible for more than 80% of the circulation of all daily newspapers — an oligopoly if not a monopoly”.
We asked News Corp whether it was true that Miller had been visiting with ministers — and if so, who was he meeting with, and whether any of those meetings concerned recent debate around media diversity in Australia. It didn’t get back to us.