Australia's Media Reform 2017:From The Perspective Of Pierre Bourdieu's Journalistic Field Theory

On 14 September 2017,the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment(Broadcasting Reform)Bill 2017 and the Commercial Broadcasting(Tax)Bill 2017 passed Australia's upper house,signaling the successful implementation of the Turnbull Government's package of reforms to Australian broadcasting and content regulation.In the core of the media reform,which is considered as Australia's most comprehensive and historic media transformation over the past nearly thirty years since 1992,was an amendment to the Broadcasting Service Act 1992(BSA),an act that broadly covers vital issues relating to content regulation and media ownership in AustraliaThe focus of this thesis is to seek out major changes to Australia's media ownership and regulation rules brought about by the Turnbull Government's Media Reform Package using the method of content analysis,and further to explore the drivers as well as the causal mechanism to Australia's Media Reform 2017 from the perspective of Pierre Bourdieu's Journalistic Field TheoryAfter a careful reading of relevant bills,the thesis finds that the media reform has brought four historic changes in terms of media ownership rules,local programming requirements,anti-siphoning scheme and licence fees.As for the drivers to Australia's Media Reform 2017,the findings of related researches have briefly provided evidence that the reform is the product of the Internet age.It is a consensus that Australia's pre-Internet media laws are outdated in the digital environment and have prevented traditional media from competing with new unregulated global Internet services effcctively.Studying from Pierre Bourdieu's Journalistic Field Theory,this paper concludes that while it is indisputable that the rise of the Internet is the root cause,Australia's Media Reform 2017 is the result of the combination of various decisive drivers in three tightly intertwined fields of journalism.economics and politics rather than the consequence of any single factor.Powerful high-tech global players entered Australia's journalistic field and triggered fierce competition therein.making low-competitive traditional media outlets in the great loss of capital and compelling operators to campaign for media reform.The predicament of traditional media in the field of journalism then became the source of its economic pressure.Dim economic outlook triggered by the sharp drop in audience ratings.such as endless layoffs,sell-offs and closures,accelerated the lobbies of traditional media practitioners in the journalistic field.Meanwhile,the plight of traditional media in the economic field and lobbies from traditional media stakeholders in the journalistic field stimulated some Liberal reformists categorized in the field of politics,with the assistance of media execs.to move an amendment to the BSA and introduce the Commercial Broadcasting(Tax)Bill 2017 for the purpose of deregulating Australia's traditional media platforms and alleviating their financial difficulties.The thesis can contribute to research on Australia's Media Reform 2017 with respect to major changes it has brought to Australia's media ownership and regulation rules and some drivers as well as the specific causal mechanism to the reform.It is also of significance in understanding Australia's media as an important factor in Sino-Australia bilateral ties.Besides,a study of Australia's media reform in the digital age from the perspective of Pierre Bourdieu's Journalistic Field Theory put forward in the last century for French television industry will also conduct an empirical test on the theory's applicability in a new context.