Passionate Obama demands gun reform

PRESIDENT Barack Obama says Americans should be ashamed if the pain of the Newtown school shooting three months ago has ebbed to such an extent that gun reform efforts are fading.

"Tears aren't enough, expressions of sympathy aren't enough, speeches aren't enough," Obama said, in a passionate speech at the White House surrounded by relatives of gun violence victims.

"Now is the time to turn that heartbreak into something real," Obama said, three months after 20 children and six teachers and caregivers were gunned down in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

The president held his event amid indications the tidal wave of national grief that prompted promises of action on greater gun control after the massacre in December was fading.

"I want to make sure every American is listening today," said Obama, bristling with anger after saying he had read a report that questioned whether Washington had gone soft on reform efforts as the horror of Newtown fades.

"Less than 100 days ago that happened. The entire country was shocked, the entire country pledged we would do something about it and this time it would be different," he said.

"Shame on us if we have forgotten. I haven't forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we have forgotten."

Top Democrats in Congress have said there is not sufficient support for some measures proposed by Obama, including a reinstatement of an assault weapons ban.

The legislative fight is now surrounding White House plans to close loopholes in background checks designed to ensure mentally unstable people and criminals cannot get guns.

Obama also hopes to enact new laws clamping down on gun trafficking and providing more help to secure America's schools.

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Media bosses hail end of reform package

EDS: Closes off earlier story

By Peter Trute, AAP Senior Finance Writer

SYDNEY, March 21 AAP - Media companies have welcomed the collapse of the federal government's controversial package of reforms to ownership and regulation in the industry.

Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes says he is pleased by the government's decision to withdraw four bills affecting media ownership and industry self-regulation.

"We had expressed reservations about both the content of these bills and in particular the process," Mr Stokes said in a statement.

"Media policy is vital to the democratic health of our country."

Ten Network also hailed the end of the reform attempt, which was launched by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy last week and sparked immediate anger from media executives.

"These bills were fundamentally flawed, contained numerous significant drafting and operational problems and could not realistically be implemented in their current form," a Ten spokesman said in a statement.

News Limited chief executive Kim Williams said he was "relieved that commonsense has prevailed".

However, Southern Cross Austereo chief executive Rhys Holleran criticised the decision.

"We are not surprised by today's decision, we're disappointed as we've been a consistent supporter regarding the removal of the reach rule - a policy which we believe is out of date," Mr Holleran said.

The bills proposed the removal of the 75 per cent "reach rule" governing broadcast television market size and the establishment of a Public Interest Media Advocate empowered to decide on takeovers and ownership concentration as well as whether media self-regulatory bodies were performing to an acceptable standard.

Mr Williams had branded the bills as an attempt to institute "government-sanctioned journalism".

Two uncontroversial bills dealing with Australian content quotas and the permanent reduction of commercial television licence fees were passed by parliament.

Citi media analyst Justin Diddams said the media reform bills had strained relationships among media players and the failure to remove the reach rule could constrain future growth.

The removal of the reach rule would have opened the way for a Nine Entertainment-Southern Cross Austereo merger after the expiry of Southern Cross's regional content affiliate agreement with Ten Network.

This had the effect of fracturing somewhat the relationships between Nine and regional partner WIN TV, and Ten and Southern Cross.

"From an industry health perspective, it's a bit of a shame that the reach rule didn't get abolished," Mr Diddams said.

"Allowing mergers would have meant more investment in content."

Seven West Media shares gained 11 cents, or five per cent, to $2.27, with Mr Diddams attributing the rise to the reduction in licence fees, which represent a significant cost reduction for the networks.

Southern Cross lifted 4.5 cents to $1.595, Ten slipped half a cent to 34.5 cents, News Corp added nine cents to $29.03 cents, and Fairfax Media ended down half a cent at 64.5 cents.

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MPs blamed for NSW alcohol reform failures

ALCOHOL-RELATED violence and hospitalisations have risen significantly because successive NSW governments have failed to implement evidence-based policies, researchers claim.

The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) has on Thursday released a report examining the effect policies from a 2003 government summit have had on alcohol-related incidents across NSW over the past decade.

Since then, there has been a 37 per cent increase in hospitalisations attributable to alcohol, a 16 per cent increase in alcohol-related assaults and a 37 per cent spike in domestic violence linked to alcohol, the report says.

"What's happened since 2003 is we have made alcohol cheaper, more affordable and more available and we've seen a resulting increase in alcohol-related harms," FARE chief Michael Thorn told AAP.

More licensed premises trading for longer hours have contributed to the problems, he added.

There were also some improvements highlighted by the report.

Road accidents where alcohol was a factor dropped by 34 per cent and deaths involving alcohol fell 8 per cent.

But Mr Thorn is not happy with the figures and believes much more can be done.

"If they look at the evidence and act on those policies where the evidence is at its strongest, then they will have an impact on reducing alcohol-related harm," he said.

Public education programs, CCTV and tweaks to responsible service guidelines don't work, Mr Thorn said.

"There's no research evidence that (they) make any difference at all in changing behaviours, reducing harm, reducing alcohol consumption."

The most effective way to reduce alcohol-related problems is to limit supply and access.

This can be achieved by imposing closing times on licensed venues and raising the cost of drinks, Mr Thorn said.

Ahead of another alcohol summit on Thursday, Mr Thorn has called on the government to implement a 12-month statewide trial of a 3am lockout.

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