Kerry Packer Influence

The influence of the media on Australian society can be seen from the introduction of free to air television since its beginning in 1956. This period of change in Australian society is known as popular culture when entertainment was aimed at youths. Popular culture is defined as, “The types of entertainment that most people in society enjoy.” This was heavily linked to the easy access to the public when television was launched after World War 2. An Australian icon who brought change to the way Australians watched television was Kerry Packer, who change the beliefs and values in Australian television and way of life. Kerry Packer successfully founded the World Series cricket and was also first to broadcast cricket and other sport on television

Kerry Packer owned majority of the Australian media with major shares in the Publishing and Broadcasting Limited and Australian Consolidated Press (Chappell, 2012). This gave him the control over the media. People who worked for him found that he was much of an individualised man and was very proud of his own work, always demanding for the best quality of work to the highest standard from both himself and his staff. This allowed him to shape Australia’s identity as a sporting nation. By founding the World Cricket Series and broadcasting it on live television, he laid the foundation for all sports, not only in Australia but also around the world. He used his business model for every Australian sport played. An example of his business triumph was when he managed to establish the international golf circuit. He once said, “What do you think this is, a bloody democracy?" (‘Packer’s cricket revolution’, 2012). Referring to the playing of sports. His telecasting of cricket was astounding, on the first day-night game, some of his staff members had to go down to the Sydney cricket ground to manned the gates so that all the public did not miss the game (Chappell, 2012). His television coverage also allowed him to market games and players. This was the defining moment of popular culture an example of continuity and change of the “sporting nation”, bring sports to the upper and lower

For example, he revolutionised television coverage of sports when he was given the authority to broadcast cricket. He was the most powerful man in the media with the money and the infrastructure. His business strategies allowed him to expand his business. He owned majority of shares in the Publishing and broadcasting limited (PBL) and Australian Consolidated Press (‘Kerry Packer’,2007). Along with his company Nine News Network, he was able to lay his trademark on Australian society. Being a businessman, he knew that he had to plan his every decision properly. He once told the print media that, “To be perfectly honest with you, I think that you people who are involved in print media don't quite understand that you are now the second-class media ... your influence is nowhere near as great as the broadcast media.” (Valerie Lawson, 31 May 2016). This could be used to infer that he wanted the whole world to be his, stamping his trademark everywhere, at one point, he wanted to but the Fairfax newsgroup but the Australian parliament denied, curbing his growing hold over the media world (‘Kerry Packer’,2007). Positively, there is a way to define the fact that Kerry Packer has been successful in shaping Australia media through his business