Protest against sale of Fairfax

SYDNEY — More than 300 people gathered outside the ANZ head office in Martin Place on October 18 to protest against the possible sale of Fairfax to the Kerry Packer-Conrad Black consortium. Speakers at the rally included Freda Whitlam, Andrew Denton (pictured), Angela Punch-McGregor, Sister Kath Burford and Wendy Bacon. The rally was organised by a newly formed group called Free Press, which is concerned by the concentration of media ownership in Australia. Packer and Murdoch already control 90% of metropolitan newspapers and 67% of suburban newspapers, while Packer is also the most powerful television proprietor in Australia. Free Press is calling on the ANZ receivers to float Fairfax publicly to allow a larger variety of media ownership. Photo by Dave Wright.

From GLW issue 32