The vice-like grip Murdoch has traditionally enjoyed on the Australian media goes back to former Prime Minister John Howard’s changes to the cross media laws, allowing individuals to own all types of media concurrently. The monopoly fallout continues today, including the recent restructuring of what used to be regional media, with many regional TV stations taken over by Sky, local papers closing and hundreds of journalists made redundant. Nonetheless, there are signs the mainstream advertising-centric, partisan media model may have had its day. Michael West told Green Left that despite the spin, the old media empires are crumbling, bleeding money and journalists over many years.