News diversity and broadband applications: challenges for content and distribution

While the broadband Internet may extend Australians' access to information, in this paper we argue that news diversity regulation matters more than ever in the emerging online media environment, where news applications are proliferating. Online news industry trends and research on source, exposure and content diversity indicate that media concentration should be a major policy concern for the Australian Government's Convergence Review. In light of overseas responses to declining media diversity, we outline ways in which Australia might renovate its traditional approaches to safeguarding pluralism.