Re-Visiting Tom O’Regan’s Australian Television Culture: Why Media Ownership, Regulation and Policy Still Matter

Abstract

Almost 30 years after its publication, Tom O’Regan’s innovative and ambitious, multi-layered analysis of Australian television culture remains an important text for contemporary scholars of television studies, cultural and communications studies, and media industries. In this article, I re-visit the multiple lessons of value that we can take from Australian Television Culture and its distinctive analytical frameworks. Two of the book’s key areas of focus, media ownership structures, and media policy and regulation are explored further, including in work Tom and I would go on to do together.