First it was Gina Rinehart, and now, another mining millionaire, Clive Palmer, has expressed interest in owning media assets. Palmer is proposing to create a blind trust to buy into media companies such as Fairfax Media, which owns newspapers, 2UE, 3AW and other radio stations.

The idea of a media trust has gained cautious approval from various commentators since Palmer aired the suggestion yesterday.

Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, Palmer took a swipe at News Ltd, saying Australia suffered from an over-concentration of media and cross-media ownership in what he characterised as a threat to democracy.

“Ultimate power tends to corrupt. You saw what happened to the News of the World.?.?. You want to have diversity.”

Palmer said he was looking at a six-month time-frame to set up the trust and acquire media assets, but he is proposing a model where a number of wealthy people invest in the trust, so that no one has majority control of the media. Explaining his model to the Financial Review, a Fairfax Media newspaper, Palmer said:

“We’ve all got a vested interest in a free press in Australia. You might get 20 people who all put 5 per cent in, not enough so that either of them or anyone could have control… You’d get the dividends out of the business and you might get the ability to meet everybody working for the paper and you’d have some formula where the editor would be appointed by a tribunal… This would be an arm’s length mechanism to prevent the trust deciding on the hiring – and firing – of editors.”

The UK Guardian operates under a Trust arrangement to ensure its owners do not compromise the editorial content of the newspaper.

Palmer is a life member of the National Party, and was the owner of the Gold Coast United soccer team. After an early career in real estate, Palmer moved into mining, forming the company Mineralogy. In 2008, Palmer bought Waratah Coal, and the following year took over Queensland Nickel. His assets are estimated at around $6 billion.