Australia’s media scene is creatively, technologically and economically advanced, according to BBC News. Australia has a lot of the same types of media as the United States of America. Some of their media types are newspapers, television, radio and internet. They have two major companies for their newspapers which are Murdoch-owned News Corp Australia and Fairfax Media. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation runs national and local public radio and TV. Most Australians use Facebook for their social media platform.
According to LessonBucket.com, there are three different types of media organizations in Australia: the government, commercial and community. In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Special Broadcasting Corporation are owned by the government and broadcast through radio and television. Community media organizations are usually funded by the government and broadcast through television. Commercial media organizations are privately owned and the main media owners in Australia are the Murdochs, Fairfax, Kerry Stokes, James Packer, and the Gordons. They own newspapers, radio stations and broadcast through television.
It seems that the government still has a decent amount of control over the media in Australia. The government issues licenses to operators for a fee and under certain circumstances for television broadcasting. The government in Australia has announced a series of reforms to the media laws in Australia. These new laws will help support local organizations that are in competition with the new era of the internet.
Just like in the United States, Australia is seeing a growing trend in social media users. Most of their users are using Facebook and Youtube. Facebook grew by 6% in Australia in 2018 and Facebook Messenger is the third most used platform in Australia. Australians like to stay in contact with each other just like Americans do.
According to Roymorgan.com, Australians still spend more time watching TV than using the internet at home. The average Australian actually spends almost five hours more watching TV, than using the internet when at home. It seems that Australians love watching Netflix just like Americans do. The only difference with their Netflix is the shows that they watch. What is popular in America on Netflix is not as popular in Australia. This is probably due to the diversity that America has compared with Australia.
In conclusion, it seems that Australia has a lot of the same types of media as the United States does. The government has a decent amount of control over what is broadcast there compared to the United States. Australians haven’t quite caught up to Americans in their social media usage, but are continuing to grow with social media. Australia has a lot of privately owned commercial media organizations like the United States does.
References
- “Australia Profile-Media.” BBC News, BBC, 26 Apr.2016, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-15675260
- Australian Media Ownership. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lessonbucket.com/vce-media/unit-1/australian-stories/australian-media-ownership/
- Australians still spend more time watching TV than using the internet at home. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7069-more-time-watching-television-than-using-internet-at-home-australia-september-2016-201611291605