ACCC to rule on News Corp's planned purchase of APN News & Media regional print and online newspapers by 29 September 2016

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is currently  investigating the proposed acquisition of APN News & Media Limited (APN)'s Australian Regional Media division (ARM) by News Corporation (News) – with the aim of establishing what if any the impact of the proposed acquisition will have on on competition, and whether it will: lower the quality of content, especially local news content; reduce the choices available to readers for local news content; increase newspaper prices and/or increase the price of advertising, especially in newspapers in Queensland and northern New South Wales.

As to lowering the quality of content, especially local news content or reducing the choices available to readers for local news content – well that horse was out the stable door in a flash once Murdoch had acquired the largest single shareholding in APN News & Media.

This will be the extent of News Corp’s print and online stable once the ACCC signs off on this $36.6 million sale:

The acquirer – News Corporation

News Corporation (News) is a global diversified media and information services company with businesses in news and information services, digital real estate services, book publishing, digital education and, through its investment in Foxtel Management Pty Limited, subscription television.

 In Australia, News, through various indirect, wholly owned subsidiaries, publishes a number of state, regional and community newspapers as well as The Australian.

It also publishes various websites associated with its newspapers as well as news.com.au. News publishes the following paid print newspapers in Queensland and northern NSW:

· The Courier Mail, published daily Monday to Saturday, while the Sunday Mail is published on Sunday

· Gold Coast Bulletin, published daily Monday to Saturday

· Townsville Bulletin, published daily Monday to Saturday

· Cairns Post, published daily Monday to Saturday (published as the Weekend Post on Saturdays)

News also publishes the following community newspapers:

· through Quest Community Newspapers, 13 free community newspapers circulating in various parts of greater Brisbane as well as Brisbane News, a glossy free magazine distributed to inner city Brisbane. The 13 free community newspapers are:

o Albert and Logan News o Caboolture Herald o Pine Rivers Press/North Lakes Times

o Redcliffe & Bayside Herald

o City North News o North-West News

o Northside Chronicle

o Westside News

o South-West News/Springfield News

o City South News

o South East Advertiser o Southern Star

o Wynnum Herald

· through Sun Community Newspapers, the free newspaper The Gold Coast Sun, in four localised editions:

o Gold Coast Sun Upper North

o Gold Coast Sun North o Gold Coast Sun Central

o Gold Coast Sun Tweed / Southern 4

· a number of small community publications circulating in Cairns and surrounds including The Tablelands Advertiser, The Tablelander, Innisfail Advocate and the Port Douglas & Mossman Gazette

· the Bowen Independent, a paid newspaper published twice a week, and a number of other small community publications in Townsville and surrounds including The Herbert River Express, The Northern Miner and The Burdekin Advocate. News also publishes the Weekly Times, a paid newspaper distributed predominantly in rural Victoria and the Riverina region. A small number of copies are also distributed in Queensland and NSW.

News also publishes or has an interest in a range of online publications including the following:

· News.com.au

· Carsguide.com.au (48.95% interest)

· Realestate.com.au (majority interest)

· Careerone.com.au (25% interest)

News, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, also has a 14.99% interest in APN......

The target business – ARM

The target business – ARM The ARM business comprises:

· 12 paid daily, 14 paid non-daily and 32 free non-daily, community newspapers circulating in various parts of south-east and regional Queensland and northern NSW

· 14 specialist print newspapers including 'seniors', 'agriculture' and 'big rigs' titles · 4 specialist business-to-business magazines for the education and health care sectors

· 60 websites including masthead websites, websites for the specialist print newspaper titles, other websites not linked to a print title and classifieds website finda.com.au

· printing facilities located in Yandina, Warwick and Rockhampton in Queensland. A full list of ARM’s print publications is set out below:

North Queensland (Mackay region)

· Daily Mercury

· The Midweek 5

· Whitsunday Times

· Whitsunday Coast Guardian Central Queensland

· The Morning Bulletin

· The Observer

· Capricorn Coast Mirror

· Central Telegraph

· Central Queensland News Wide Bay Burnett

· NewsMail

· Fraser Coast Chronicle

· The Gympie Times

· Guardian

· Isis Town & Country

· Central & North Burnett Times

· Hervey Bay Observer

· The Maryborough Herald

· Cooloola Advertiser

· Hervey Bay Independent

South-East Queensland - Sunshine Coast

· Sunshine Coast Daily

· Sunshine Coast Sunday

· Noosa News

· Coolum & North Shore News

· Maroochy Weekly

· Kawana Weekly

· Caloundra Weekly

· Nambour Weekly

· Buderim Chronicle South-East Queensland (Greater Brisbane and Ipswich)

· Caboolture News

· Bribie Weekly

· The Logan Reporter

· The Satellite

· Bayside Northern Suburbs Star

· The Queensland Times

· The Ipswich Advertiser South-West Queensland

· Warwick Daily News

· The Chronicle

· Stanthorpe Border Post

· Dalby Herald

· Gatton, Lockyer and Brisbane Valley Star

· Laidley Plainland Leader

· South Burnett Times

· Southern Downs Weekly 6

· Balonne Beacon

· The Western Star

· Western Times

· Chinchilla News and Murilla Advertiser

Northern NSW (Gold Coast, Tweed and northern NSW)

· Tweed Daily News

· Tweed Daily News – Community Edition

· The Northern Star

· The Daily Examiner

· The Woolgoolga Advertiser

· Byron Shire News

· Ballina Shire Advocate

· Lismore Echo

· The Richmond River Express Examiner

· Coastal Views

· The Coffs Coast Advocate

Specialist publications

· Surat Basin News

· Rural Weekly (five editions, including a Northern Territory edition)

· Big Rigs

· CQ Industry

· Style Magazine

· Seniors Newspaper (eight different editions distributed in South-East Queensland and NSW)

· APN Educational Media publications (business-to-business publisher of Education Review, Nursing Review, Aged Care Insite and Campus Review

Rupert Murdoch not squatting as securely on top of the News Corp dung heap?

The number of News Corp shareholders who do not unconditionally ‘love’ Rupert Murdoch appears to be growing if the 14 November 2014 statement to the United States Securities And Exchange Commission is any indication.

An estimated 31.30% of all eligible voters (or around 7 million more voters than last year) didn’t want Rupert Murdoch on the board of the company he inherited from his father, while 31.17% and 33.05% respectively didn’t want his sons Lachlan and James as directors either.

An estimated 46.05% of all eligible voters supported the dismantling of the dual class capital structure which reportedly gives Murdoch interests 39% of the company votes although his family owns about 15% of the equity.

* Broker Non Votes are: shares are held in a brokerage account, your broker is obligated to vote your shares as instructed by you. If you don’t give voting instructions to your broker, your broker’s ability to vote your shares depends on whether the item is “routine” or “non-routine.” The New York Stock Exchange decides whether an item is “routine” or “non-routine.”

Under the New York Stock Exchange rules, brokers may vote on “routine” items in their discretion on behalf of any customers who do not furnish voting instructions within 10 days of the annual meeting. With respect to “non-routine” items that come before the annual meeting for a vote, brokers would not be able to vote at all without first receiving voting instructions from their customers.

A broker “non-vote” occurs when the broker does not vote on a proposal because it is a non-routine item and the broker’s customer has not provided voting instructions. These broker “non-votes” would not be considered in the calculation of the majority of the votes cast and therefore would have no effect on the vote with respect to a non-routine item. [New York Stock Exchange]

** Dual Class Stock is: the issuing of various types of shares by a single company. A dual class stock structure can consist of stocks such as Class A and Class B shares, and where the different classes have distinct voting rights and dividend payments. Two share classes are typically issued: one share class is offered to the general public, and the other is offered to company founders, executives and family. The class offered to the general public has limited voting rights, while the class available to founders and executives has more voting power and often provides a majority control of the company.[Investopedia]

The next time a News Corp journalist tries to point a finger at someone at a rival media outlet, remember these recent examples of that company's own lapses from grace

The Daily Mail 8 August 2014:

First edition blunder: This is the Daily Telegraph's first edition printed on Thursday, August 7, featuring the photoshopped image of Boston bombing victim, James Costello - who became one of the iconic figures of the terrorist attack tragedy - on the right hand side of Page 11. The image shows the stricken body of Mr Costello as he staggered around dazed in shredded clothing with severe burns to his legs and shrapnel wounds. The paper replaced his face with that of Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton's, complete with an Arab headdress

Whoops, take two: The Daily Telegraph removed the photograph of Boston bombing victim James Costello from the photoshopped image, replacing his injured torso with that of a man buttoned up in a brown suit, but keeping Mike Carlton's head and the Yasser Arafat style headdress

Adjudication No. 1614: Third Party Matter 130256/The Daily Telegraph (August 2014)
The Press Council has considered whether its Standards of Practice were breached by material published on The Daily Telegraph's website on 3 February 2014 relating to the death of the actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman. The material was headed “Kids grieve for junkie actor dad” and included a photograph of his children and an assertion about what their response would be to the circumstances in which Mr Hoffman died.
The Council has concluded that the combined impact of the references to the children and their alleged feelings, a photograph of them and the use of the term “junkie”, was highly unfair and offensive, especially as the material was published only a few hours after Mr Hoffman’s death.
The Council also concluded that serious breaches of its Standards of Practice occurred in this case even though the offending aspects were removed from the website within an hour. The Council noted it is entirely foreseeable that, as occurred in this instance, material which has been removed from a website may nevertheless be seen widely before its removal, and remain permanently available from other internet sources

Adjudication No. 1598: Cameron Byers and others/The Australian (July 2014)The Press Council has upheld complaints arising from a front page article and an editorial in The Australian on 16 September 2013 and a subsequent item headed “clarification” on 21-22 September. The items related to an impending report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), especially about observed rates of global warming of surface air temperature.
The Council concluded that an erroneous claim in the headline of the article about a revised warming rate was very serious, given the importance of the issue and of the need for accuracy (both of which were emphasised in the editorial that repeated the claim without qualification). It considered that there had been a failure to take appropriately rigorous steps before giving such forceful and prominent credence to the claim. Accordingly, the complaint was upheld on that ground. The Council considered that the gravity of the error, and its repetition without qualification in the editorial, required a correction which was more substantial, and much more prominent, than the very brief “clarification” on page 2. It said the heading should have given a brief indication of the subject matter to help attract the attention of readers of the original article and editorial. Accordingly, the complaint was upheld on those grounds.
The Council welcomed the acknowledgement of error and expressions of regret which the publication eventually made to it. But it said they should have been made very much earlier, and made directly to the publication’s readers in a frank and specific manner. It expressed considerable concern that this approach had not been adopted.

Murdoch's minions have been drinking the Kool-Aid again

*

 Basically the Australian Bureau of Statistics defines the labour force as every person 15 years of age and older who is capable of work.

Those usually excluded are persons in this age group who are voluntarily keeping house (unpaid), have permanently retired, are members of contemplative religious orders or are in gaols, hospitals, boarding schools etc.

In January 2014 the size of the labour force was calculated at 12.18 million, with total employed persons being 11.45 million and total unemployed persons being 728,600 (seasonally adjusted). [6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Jan 2014]

This brought the unemployment rate for January in at 6 per cent.

Sounds simple doesn’t it?

Yet The Australian ran this opening sentence in an article titled Remove hurdles to employment on 14 February 2014; Australia's unemployment rate is now just shy of 51 per cent. That is not a misprint. Then went on to state; In a country of 23.38 million people only 7.95 million have a full-time job, with another 3.51 million in part-time jobs

The newspaper appears to have reached this conclusion by calculating its 11.46 million employed persons as a percentage of its total Australian population (mewling infants, primary school children, retirees, the frail aged in nursing homes etc., all merrily included) and then subtracting this from 100 to reach 51 per cent unemployment across the nation.

I’m still wondering what on earth the editor was drinking thinking when he decided to let such drivel go forward for publication.

One thing is certain – his journalist must have been quaffing Kool-Aid** by the bucket full.

* Kool-Aid image from Google Images

** Drinking the Kool-Aid