The Labor Party has signalled it is likely to oppose the Howard Government's plan to relax media ownership laws, putting the fate of the plan in the hands of the Australian Democrats.

Labor communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner, in an article published today in The Age, says the proposals are "ill considered" and unlikely to win the party's support.

The article - Mr Tanner's clearest message to date on the issue - shifts political pressure to the Democrats to pass the government's legislation, due to be presented to parliament by March.

It comes in the same week that Communications Minister Richard Alston has been talking with investment houses and media proprietors in North America about investing in Australian media.

Senator Alston said yesterday there was strong US interest in buying into Australian media once ownership barriers had been removed. He challenged fears that the changes would vest too much clout in too few hands, claiming the "imperatives of commercialism" would prevent media giants from using their products to push a particular political line.

Any proprietor who did so would risk financial ruin by isolating "the other half" of the consumer market who did not share their views, he said.

But Mr Tanner, in his article today, has analysed the government's proposals one by one and dismissed them in turn as "meaningless", "crude" and "completely unworkable".

"The emergence of new media is still more theoretical than real, and one of the key reasons for this is the Howard Government's crude attempts to censor the Internet and stifle the opportunities arising from the introduction of digital television," Mr Tanner writes.

"It would be much more sensible to fix the digital problems first, and then review media regulation at a later date."

The Democrats, who hold the balance of power in the Senate, have promised to retain an open mind on the government's legislation.

The planned changes would remove both foreign ownership restrictions and offer exemptions on cross-media ownership restrictions, which currently prevent proprietors from owning television stations and newspapers in the same markets.

The changes would clear the way for Kerry Packer to make a move on Fairfax, publisher of The Age, while retaining ownership of the Nine Network and his Australian Consolidated Press magazine empire.

Rupert Murdoch would be able to increase his publishing and television holdings in major cities if the cross-media ownership restrictions were eased.

Senator Alston met Mr Murdoch this week while touring the US and Canada to speak with investment houses about opportunities in Australian media, film and IT industries.

Although he would not go into the detail of the dis-cussions, Senator Alston said he spoke at length with Mr Murdoch about the proposed changes to the media laws.

Senator Alston said easing the cross-media ownership restrictions would not reduce the diversity of opinion in Australian media.

He said the fact that The Sydney Morning Herald had editorialised in favour of the Coalition during the last federal election campaign while The Age, its Fairfax stablemate, had supported Labor showed there was a divergence of opinion even within organisations.

Senator Alston said those interested in investing in the Australian media included some of America's largest media companies, such as Vivendi, Viacom, AOL-Time Warner and Disney.

He said removing restrictions would open the door to foreign players such as Pearsons of the UK, which had previously shown an interest and could bring back those who had left Australia, such as Conrad Black's Hollinger.

He believed US newspaper companies, such as the independently owned Chicago Tribune, might also be interested in moving into the market. "Having foreign investment in Australian media would make it a much more dynamic sector," Senator Alston said.