Australian bill threatens to prevent convergence

A bill that would set standards for cross-media ownership in Australia may actually outlaw convergence, according to The Australian.

The Howard government's long-awaited cross-media ownership bill states that media under a common owner 'must maintain separate editorial decision-making responsibilities'.

So a single company may own a TV station and daily newspaper in the same city, but must have separate news crews, bureau chiefs, reporters and editors. Each must also have a separate editorial policy and guidelines.

Companies must have an 'organisation chart' that identifies decision-makers and must publish the chart and guidelines on the Internet.

David Flint, chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Company, will be responsible for examining each company to ensure it adheres to the legislation.

Meanwhile, in the USA there are signs that multimedia convergence is happening to smaller operations as well as the big players.

The 19,000-circulation daily Kansas-based Lawrence Journal World is to move into the same building as cable TV station 6News and web site www.ljworld.com, on the orders of owner World Co.

It wants staff to 'get used to working together and working across media'. Ann Gardner, the newspaper's multimedia managing editor, said it was too soon to tell what impact the convergence had had.

She said it was a priority not to sacrifice quality of reporting. Breaking news will go first to the Web - as the fastest medium - then to TV and finally print, where the story will get the most in-depth coverage.

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