A long wait for a dog's breakfast

AFTER a year of cogitation, negotiation and indecision, Stephen Conroy's media reform plan is a dog's breakfast, raising more questions than it answers.

On the surface, the proposal for a public interest test for future media mergers and acquisitions sounds reasonable: It would protect the public interest, right?

No. The design and intent of this new element in the complex and fluid world of media is to apply a political test. The establishment of a Public Interest Media Advocate will create a catch-all body to oversee a wide range of media activity.

The workings of a public interest test have not been defined by Conroy. There are no standards, measures or mathematical equations that can be used to measure public interest. But there are plenty of political imperatives, principled and otherwise, that can be satisfied by a body with an Orwellian title and broad powers.

The public interest test as proposed introduces a new layer of control over media. Where the ACCC oversees competition issues in other fields, media will need to satisfy another body with extensive yet imprecise boundaries.

A public interest test could act as a mechanism to ensure proposed media amalgamations receive political approval.

Take the current situation of the planned merger of the Nine Network and the nation's largest radio and regional TV organisation, Southern Cross Austereo. At present it cannot happen because the resulting entity would breach the existing rule that prohibits TV networks reaching more than 75 per cent of the national audience,

Conroy wants to end that rule, but the proposed merger would then be subject to his public interest test. The removal of the 75 per cent reach rule is already being opposed by politicians such as Bob Katter, viewers in the regions who fear a loss of localism, and the Seven and Ten networks.

Because of this political opposition, Conroy deftly flicked the matter to a parliamentary committee to urgently investigate. It is anticipated the committee will sit on Friday and its recommendations will be absorbed into legislation introduced next week.

Allowing just a single day of committee debate over the issue suggests Conroy has already stitched up the outcome and the parliamentary scrutiny is mere window-dressing.

The public interest test is the most contentious part of Conroy's media reform package. It is certain to be fiercely resisted by incumbent media companies as well as the opposition.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has promised to repeal legislation if it is passed. He has described proposals for the test as "so imprecise, so general, so elusive that it is incapable of ever being applied in a manner (other than) entirely political".