But I thought that lefties were all into irony

Stand back and watch a Professor commit Journalism with Malice aforethought:

Yes, news is a commodity and in that respect it behaves and is managed like any other item for sale in a capitalist market economy. But the news is a commodity with a dual nature unlike any other.

Unlike widgets, news is an information commodity and it is the currency of democracy today.

This is why there is a greater public interest in managing and regulating this commodity and why there is a role for governments – representing the public interest – to give oversight to your business.

OK, the hilarity of the Professor asking to be muzzled by the Oz.Gov is something which seems to elude him, because later in his missive he pens the following:

After all, numerous studies from Australia and around the world demonstrate time after time that more than half the information you dish up as “news” each day is sourced from PR operatives and government spin doctors.

And so the Obvious Thing is to turn control over to those government spin doctors.

Clearly the good Professor is engaging in performance art, no doubt casting the sly glance sideways towards us, waiting Jon Stewart like for our applause recognizing his Higher Level of Ironic Achievement.  Well played, sir, well played.

The alternative explanation is that he's an over educated idiot who wouldn't think himself out of an organic, recyclable, compostable paper bag if one end were left open*.  It is perhaps unfair to wonder about his bio: "Associate Professor Journalism & Media at Deakin University" and whether that is similar to being the finest ballerina in all of Galveston.  Sadly, his article leads me to lean that way.

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* Note to Lefties: composting is a major source of Carbon Dioxide emissions from the rotting plant material.  Australians, please pay your Carbon Tax on your "Green" compost heaps.