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Introduction and Acknowledgments

There are issues of definition and focus in this thesis that are important to

clarify. The first is that it is concerned with television in general, and Australian

commercial television in particular. Ambiguities arise from the fact that policies

involving television are broadcasting policies, which by definition also involve

radio. The thesis has used the terms ‘broadcasting’, ‘broadcast media’ and

‘broadcast media policy’, even though its specific concerns are with the impact of

these policies on the television sector. There are not ‘television policies’ in

Australia; rather, there are broadcasting policies directed at the television sector.

The focus of this thesis is also upon the relationship between public policy

and the commercial free-to-air television sector. A decision has been made not to

analyse the national public broadcasters, such as the ABC or the SBS, or other

sectors such as community broadcasting or the pay TV sector, even though a

national broadcasting system clearly emerges out of the intersections between

these different sectors. This focus is partly a question of producing a manageable

research question, but also reflects a particular interest in capturing the

relationships between commercial broadcasters and state regulators, that has not

been pursued in the Australian context in a sufficiently comprehensive manner.

The thesis is also focussed on media policies concerning content, or how

policy influences what commercial broadcasters put to air. While the thesis
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provides a historical narrative of Australian media policy over the period form

1972 to 2000, it is not a comprehensive history. Rather than attempting a

chronological sweep of events in Australian media policy during this period, the

thesis uses four case studies over this period as a means of tracing a wider pattern

of development and change in Australian media policy. It is argued in this thesis

that media policies and regulations that aim to empower the public as citizens

have influenced the conduct of commercial broadcasters in terms of their media

content, and that the nature of media content does not simply largely follow from

media ownership structures.

A study of how discourses associated with cultural policy and citizenship

connect with broadcast media policy in Australia, where the sector has a history of

dominance by the commercial sector and limited control by governments, is also

important to the further development of media and cultural policy studies. A

commercial logic has been at the centre of Australian broadcasting since its

inception, and consideration of the historical development of broadcast media

policy in a country such as Australia, reveals important qualifiers to those

approaches to cultural policy that stress the driving role of government in the

formation of national cultural citizens.

A final issue that has formed a silent subtext for my work in this area has

been its political implications. My argument in this thesis is that both political

activists and critical academics in fields such as media and cultural studies need to
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develop an understanding of the conditions of existence of any form of economic,

social and cultural practice, and a strong grasp of the institutional, discursive and

policy frameworks that inform the development of media industries and media

policy in Australia. This thesis also tracks a strong, if variable, degree of

permeability between state agencies and institutionalised political activism, and a

history of ‘activism in the policy process’ that has not only become an area of

increasing interest in academic discourse (eg. Yeatman, 1998), but captures the

reality of engagement with the media policy process that many of those who have

contributed to this thesis have personally experienced.

________________________________________________________________

I would like to thank my Principal Supervisor in the School of Film,

Media and Cultural Studies at Griffith University, Jennifer Craik, for her

thoughtful contributions, generosity, and commitment to this project. I would also

like to thank Tony Bennett for being such a supportive principal supervisor from

1996 to 1998.

I would like to thank my colleagues in the School of Media and

Journalism at the Queensland University of Technology for providing a dynamic

and intellectually stimulating environment in which to work, and for providing me

with the time off to complete this thesis when required. Particularly big thanks to

Stuart Cunningham and Christina Spurgeon, who have provided considerable

input and support to the development of this thesis.

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I would like to thank my interviewees for their contribution to this thesis.

Thanks to Mark Armstrong, Julie James Bailey, Tony Branigan, Anne Britton,

Debra Richards, Tony Shaw and Sally Stockbridge.

Others who I would like to thank for their input at various stages of this

thesis include Ann Curthoys, John Docker, Gay Hawkins, Elizabeth Jacka,

Michael Keane, Harvey May, Stephen McElhinney, Gary MacLennan, Colin

Mercer and Helen Wilson. Thanks to Jock Given for providing me with a

supportive research environment and access to resources at the Communications

Law Centre at the ‘business end’ of the thesis. Thanks also to the Australian Key

Centre for Cultural and Media Policy for the resources and support it provided in

1999. Thanks also to Massive Attack, Primal Scream, REM, U2, PJ Harvey and

others who provided the soundtrack for much of the writing of this thesis.

I would particularly like to thank Angela Romano, for being both an astute

reader and a great friend. Thanks to Sue Jarvis for her excellent proof reading.

Finally, thanks to Jack and Gloria Flew. Your belief in the value of an education is

greatly appreciated.

Terry Flew

Queensland University of Technology

September 2000
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