THE DESKOWNERSHIP, INFLUENCE, ACCOUNTABILITY14 INVESTIGATIONS7 CASES
Media
Who owns what you read. The concentration of Australian media, the conflicts of interest it creates, and the democracy it undermines.
Fig. 01 / On this desk · the cases running on this beat
Fig. 01Source: beat desk · cases assembled from the archiveAs of 2026‑09Auto-assembled
Fig. 02 / The evidence · every file on this beat
01Who owns the news you think you’re readingAustralia has some of the most concentrated media ownership in the world. Three billionaires and a US conglomerate control almost everything you read, watch, and hear.…02The mining company that owns your newsKerry Stokes controls a A$10.74 billion industrial empire selling Caterpillar equipment to mines and holding a 30% stake in an oil and gas producer. He also owns Weste…03The property platform that owned your property reporterAustralia is in the middle of its worst housing affordability crisis on record. The companies whose media outlets shape the housing policy debate are also the ones mak…04Sky News and the regional captureIn Australian cities, you pay to watch Sky News Australia. In much of regional and rural Australia, it is your only available news channel, broadcasting free, all day,…05The revolving door between politics and mediaIn Australia, there is a well-worn path from parliament to the boardrooms and broadcasting studios of the companies that are supposed to be held to account by parliame…06501,876 signatures and nothing happenedIn October 2020, more Australians signed a petition calling for a royal commission into News Corp than have ever signed any petition in Australian parliamentary histor…07The levy that was designed to raise nothingThe scheme's own stated intent was that government would collect no net revenue at all, with any proceeds returned in full to newsrooms. By early August, reporting on …01The secrecy you can buyVictoria's pledge to strip suppression orders from convicted rapists aims at the one moment the system already handles; the secrecy that matters is assembled earlier, …02The order the Act cannot reachRalph Carr can now be named, and the way his suppression order ended, abandoned rather than overturned, confirms the interim phase is where the real decision is made. …07What the media coveredQantas has content partnerships with three of Australia's four major media groups: Nine (AFR, SMH, Age), News Corp (The Australian, Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun), and A…08What the media covers and howA video about beer and gas tax was watched 8.7 million times, as reported in February 2026. Not because a newspaper published a front-page investigation, but because a…07What the media coveredThe WestConnex 2021 sale was announced at a COVID media conference. The government led with a new Western Sydney investment fund. Reporters covered the fund. The 2018 …03Who paysIt looks like a fight between politicians. The bill lands on the people who never chose it: the witness, the reporter, the juror, the voter.03The internet asks for IDThe under-16 ban was the wedge: within roughly a year, every layer of the Australian internet asks adults to prove who they are, an age-assurance industry holds a legi…
Fig. 02Source: article scan · grouped by the case each file belongs toAs of 2026‑09Auto-assembled