ANU chief Brian Schmidt calls for tighter media regulation

Departing Australian National University chief Brian Schmidt calls for tighter regulation of the media to counter digital disruption and AI fakes.

Outgoing Australian National University vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt at the National Press Club in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

Outgoing Australian National University vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt has called for tighter regulation of the media to boost trust in media organisations which are challenged by digital disruption and the rise of AI fakes that are indistinguishable from reality.

In a speech to the National Press Club on Tuesday Professor Schmidt said that a self-accreditation system for media organisations against broader set of regulatory standards – similar to the way universities are regulated – could help the media retain the public trust.

“This reform could ensure, that once again, the media be held as a highly trusted institution within our democracy that informs the public and helps hold society’s institutions to account,” he told the press club.

He said that trust in democracy required trust in the media and challenges to that trust were growing rapidly.

”Imagine a time when there is more fabricated digital content than real content – where no one can trust what is real, and what is not. That time is nearer than you might think, probably just a few years away,” Professor Schmidt said.

He said that, to withstand the onslaught, the media needed to think deeply about its role in society and be open to reform.

“How about if, in order to be an official media organisation, and be given specific rights and protections, you have to accredit against a series of standards?” he asked.

Professor Schmidt said that, as was the case in universities, this did not mean that government would regulated specific actions by the media. The media, like universities, would have freedom of action under a broader umbrella of government standards.

“Nothing less than the health of our democracy rests on restoring public trust in their news providers, and in maintaining it in our universities,” he said.

Professor Schmidt, an astrophysicist who won the Nobel prize for physics in 2011, will stand down as ANU vice-chancellor at the end of this month after eight years in the role.

He said that universities around the world currently faced the challenge of continuing to be able to say uncomfortable things in the face of criticism and harassment from an increasingly polarised populace.

There was a “reluctance to have the hardest conversations,” he said. “Many issues are deemed too sensitive or too liable to offend.”

Professor Schmidt said that students had become proficient, through social media, at expressing displeasure when they were offended.

“Some topics right now, such as the Israel-Palestinian conflict, are so polarised it is almost impossible to say anything that will not lead to some form of retribution involving harassment by the anonymously aggrieved. This behaviour is certainly not emblematic of tolerance and respect – and it is very difficult to manage, given students become adept at finding the space between our codes of conduct and the freedoms of expression we encourage on our campuses.”

However he added that most of the intolerant behaviour was concentrated in a relatively few individuals, and their type had always been a universities.

“The challenge is that the power of digital connectivity enables the anger of a small number of people to be aggressively amplified, with a chilling effect on free debate,” he said.