Introduction_phd_terry Flew

ix

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

x 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

xi 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.

xii

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

xiii