Terms of Reference

Inquiry into the reporting of sports news and the emergence of digital media

Terms of Reference

The Senate has referred the following matter to the Committee for inquiry and report by 14 May 2009:

The reporting of sports news and the emergence of digital media, with particular reference to:

  1. the balance of commercial and public interests in the reporting and broadcasting of sports news;
  2. the nature of sports news reporting in the digital age, and the effect of new technologies (including video streaming on the Internet, archived photo galleries and mobile devices) on the nature of sports news reporting;
  3. whether and why sporting organisations want digital reporting of sports regulated, and what should be protected by such regulation;
  4. the appropriate balance between sporting and media organisations' respective commercial interests in the issue;
  5. the appropriate balance between regulation and commercial negotiation in ensuring that competing organisations get fair access to sporting events for reporting purposes;
  6. the appropriate balance between the public's right to access alternative sources of information using new types of digital media, and the rights of sporting organisations to control or limit access to ensure a fair commercial return or for other reasons;
  7. should sporting organisations be able to apply frequency limitations to news reports in the digital media;
  8. the current accreditation processes for journalists and media representatives at sporting events, and the use of accreditation for controlling reporting on events; and
  9. options other than regulation or commercial negotiation (such as industry guidelines for sports and news agencies in sports reporting, dispute resolution mechanisms and codes of practice) to manage sports news to balance commercial interests and public interests.

The Committee invites written submissions from interested individuals and organisations, preferably in electronic form sent by email, to eca.sen@aph.gov.au. The email must include full postal address and contact details. The closing date for submissions is Monday, 6 April 2009.

Alternatively, submissions may be sent to The Secretary, Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts, PO Box 6100 Parliament House, CANBERRA ACT 2600, or faxed to 02 6277 5818.

Submissions become committee documents and are made public only after a decision by the Committee. Persons making submissions must not release them without the approval of the Committee. Submissions are covered by parliamentary privilege but the unauthorised release of them is not.

Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to the Parliament House TTY number (02) 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. These tools are available at: http://access.adobe.com/. If you require any special arrangements in order to enable you to participate in a committee inquiry, please contact the committee secretary.

For further information, contact:

Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Environment, Communications and the Arts
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Phone: +61 2 6277 3526
Fax: +61 2 6277 5818
Email: eca.sen@aph.gov.au