Ita Buttrose says the government and 'amateurs' should stay out of media regulation

MEDIA identity Ita Buttrose has hit back at proposed regulation of the media, saying it's not where the government belongs.

Ita Buttrose

MEDIA identity Ita Buttrose has hit back at proposed regulation of the media, saying it's not where the government belongs and that the industry needs to "tell them to get out of our turf".

Addressing the National Press Club today in Canberra, the former Daily Telegraph, Australian Women's Weekly and Cleo editor said she was not a fan of Labor's proposed public interest test for media owners.

“I do not believe in the regulation of media by government. That's not where they belong,” she said.

Ms Buttrose, whose life was dramatised last year in ABC TV's Paper Giants, said she had not heard the public complaining about the media, only politicians.

“The media is not a place for amateurs” she said. “I am tired of people telling us how to run our business.

“What do they think we are?

“I think as a profession, we need to speak out more passionately about what we do and we need to tell them to get out of our turf.”

Ms Buttrose also said the future for newspapers was bright and journalists may all become publishers because “you will be able to do it from your bedroom, if you want to”.

“We will be able to do things in digital publishing that we have not been able to do before,” she said. “It's a good world we are moving to and we should be excited about that, not negative.”

Ms Buttrose spoke to the press club about dementia and Alzheimer's, in her capacity as president of Alzheimer's Australia.

She said many people could mistake Alzheimer's disease as a natural part of ageing and almost one in five Australian surveyed thought that memory loss or confusion was to be expected as people got older.