[July 25, 2011] Australians more concerned about phone hacking after Murdoch's scandal: survey Tweet CANBERRA, Jul 25, 2011 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Australian people have become more concerned about phone hacking in the wake of Rupert Murdoch' s phone hacking scandal in Britain, the latest survey showed on Monday. The weekly Essential Research online poll of the 1,053 respondents was published in Sydney Morning Herald. It found that 51 percent of respondents have become more concerned about phone hacking after the scandal, with only five percent of the respondents saying they were less concerned. Half of the respondents also said the Australian federal government should not allow one company to own the majority of Australia's major newspapers. Forty-eight percent also supported the need for more media regulation, compared with just six percent who said there should be less, while 31 percent thought present regulation was about right. Murdoch-owned News of the World was accused of being involved in hacking the mobile phones of dead victims of crime to access messages in the pursuit of information for stories. The scandal has led to the closure of the newspaper. Meanwhile, Murdoch-owned News Corporation's Australian arm, News Limited, controls 70 percent of Australia's news readership, including eight of the 12 major daily newspapers in Australia, as well as the only national newspaper. In the wake of the scandal, and the rising concerns of media ownership in Australia, Australian federal government last week said it is considering to strengthen privacy laws, paving the way for Australians to sue media organizations for any breaches. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]