• After a public campaign led by Kevin Rudd for a royal commission into media diversity in Australia, the Senate agreed to establish an inquiry late last year.
• The committee has published submissions made to the inquiry so far, with nearly 50 individuals, publishers and organisations contributing so far.
• Despite Rudd’s intention to investigate the impact of the News Corp Australia, submissions address everything from the decline of regional media to a lack of cultural diversity in Australian news rooms.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

If Kevin Rudd was excited to see his sought-after investigation into media diversity in Australia come to fruition, the former Prime Minister will probably be uninspired by the initial responses which stray far from his intent.

Late last week, the Senate’s inquiry into the state of media diversity, independence and reliability in Australia published a swathe of initial submissions by individuals, organisations and companies.

While Rudd had Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation in his sights while pushing for a royal commission, the inquiry looks at the state of the industry, how online global platforms are affecting it and what government can do to assist.

Here are five of the most interesting responses so far.

Facebook

Facebook’s submission is very clear: it argues that it is not to blame for the increasingly dire state of journalism in Australia.

Citing the impact of the 24-hour news channel played on newspaper journalism as an example, Facebook points out there are a variety of causes for the shrinking of the advertising business for newspapers.

More than that, the company uses the opportunity — amid increasingly high-stakes relations between the government, publishers and platforms — to remind readers that news media needs Facebook more than it needs them.

“Only a very small proportion of the content on Facebook is news, and it presents a negligible source of revenue for us. Moreover, news on our services is highly substitutable,” the submissions reads.

Facebook’s submission includes some figures to back up their contributions to news media: 4.7 billion organic referrals from January to November last year, a number they claim is worth $394 million.

ABC

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is blunt about the current direction of industry in Australia.

“The loss of journalism and news outlets in Australia has reduced the amount of coverage overall,” its submission reads.

The ABC said this decline is changing what they do: in lieu of successful commercial papers, particularly regionally, there is a greater demand for “hyperlocal” coverage from the public broadcaster — something it wasn’t established to do.

On top of the commercial pressures, the ABC’s submission also shares a laundry list of other issues in the industry.

“The rise of partisan outlets, misinformation/disinformation, attacks on science and professional journalism, attacks on press freedom and freedom of speeh, and the filter bubble effect,” it reads.

All these challenges and – the submission makes sure to mention –reduced funding from the government is making it harder to do their job, the broadcaster said.

Regional commercial television broadcasters

While the ABC’s outlines the broad strokes of a regional media in crisis, a joint submission by Prime Media Group, Southern Cross Austereo, WIN Network and Imparja Television shows the finer details.

The submission said that audiences for regional free-to-air television have declined 26% in five years, and advertising revenue has decreased by 29% over the same period.

And to blame is the increasing dominance of tech platforms and metropolitan broadcasters which has been facilitated by the rollout of the NBN, the group claims.

Despite this, the four broadcasters don’t want ongoing handouts.

“We believe the solution to preserve media diversity in regional Australia lies in regulatory reform for regional media businesses, not ongoing Government funding for public interest news,” the submissions said.

As they have done before, these regional broadcasters take aim at regulations restricting mergers, specifically the ‘voices test’ and ‘one-license-to-a-market’ rule.

The group argues that global competition means that the rules around regional broadcasters need to change.

Media Diversity Australia

Journalism not-for-profit Media Diversity Australia used their submission to draw attention for the need for cultural diversity in Australian media — something they say is lacking.

“Put simply, the Australian media is not representative of Australian society […] This gap has a fundamentally negative impact on the media’s ability to tell stories in balanced ways that reflect the diverse perspective of the Australian population,” it says.

Media Diversity Australia chair and submission author Isabel Lo calls for the federal government to empower a government body monitor and report workplace diversity as well as considering media regulations that would ensure “factual and anti-racist reporting.”

News Corp Australia

While “welcoming” the inquiry, News Corp Australia’s submission to the inquiry has a curt tone.

Noting the previous inquiries and investigations into the media, the submission devotes its biggest section to restrictions on reporting and government secrecy stemming from new national security laws.

“The culture of secrecy arising from these legal provisions that unnecessarily restrict Australia’s right to know has permeated attitudes and processes more broadly,” it reads.

“But with each of these laws the tide of secrecy rises.”

Notably, however, the submission omits any reference to Rudd and his loud campaign against the company.

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