No newspaper competition on the Coast

The foreign-owned Central Coast Express Advocate won the coveted Community Newspaper of the year in 2009.

The award took place in the presence of News Corporation's chairman Rupert Murdoch at the Sydney Opera House.

Democracy is not well served when the powerful media magnate Murdoch controls a publication with no serious competition on the Central Coast.

Can the Express Advocate truthfully claim to be a newspaper when it frequently contains 90 per cent advertising and only 10 per cent news?

Its circulation of 250,000 copies each week is scattered on Gosford Council's public footpaths.

This method of distribution constitutes a breach of section 145 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act and gives the publisher an unfair advantage over other publishers who lawfully place printed material in letterboxes and community newspapers like the Peninsula News which lawfully circulate 28,000 copies each month with only 30 per cent commercial advertising.

The Department of Local Government on June 8, 2010, said that NSW councils have powers to prevent littering under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act) but Gosford Council's co-ordinator ranger services (8th June 2010) claims section 146A(3) provides an exception for newspapers or any inclusions in a newspaper, from having to comply with the requirements of section 146A of the Act

Gosford Council tolerates and contributes to the printed matter scattered on its public footways twice a week and fails in its duty to collect for the public revenue markets rent from a business that uses public footways for private profit.

This amounts to a substantial public subsidy to the Murdoch international media empire.

Australian politicians and councillors are aware that Murdoch's publications can reward them or punish them if they "rock the boat".

A person commenting on the possible fraud relating to the salary cap scandal in the Melbourne Storm (owned by Murdoch) said "dealing with News Limited is like dealing with a tobacco company - they are so powerful".

Can this be why Gosford Council does not enforce its littering laws against Central Coast Express Advocate and avoids collecting its rightful revenue?

Letter, 17 Oct 2011 John Collins, Woy Woy