The chair of the ongoing media inquiry proposed on Tuesday a new industry levy to strengthen the Press Council, Australia's newspaper watchdog.

The proposal by retired Federal Court Justice Ray Finkelstein was the result of an observation by independent publisher Eric Beecher that the country's media need more oversight to maintain editorial standards amid commercial pressure and fierce competition that contributed to reduction of public trust in media.

"Clearly self-regulation hasn't worked as well as it could. It's like parenting. You need some discipline," Guardian News quoted Mr Beecher, who publishes online sites Crikey and Business Spectator.

Mr Finkelstein proposed that the levy be imposed across the media industry but on a proportionate and equitable basis.

The Press Council, in a submission, sought additional resources that would come from the industry, non-media sources and governments.

The inquiry was sparked by the News of the World scandal in Britain in which corrupt and unethical methods were used by the paper to gain exclusive stories.

Media commentator and La Trobe University Professor Robert Mann, who testified also, disclosed that in Australia the media firm News Limited owns 70 per cent of newspapers that circulate in the country.

Mr Mann said that he had been a victim of the blog of columnist Andrew Bolt for many years. He described the 188 comments that Mr Bolt wrote as often malicious, defamatory and inaccurate.

He pointed out that most of the mistakes are not corrected and some papers such as The Australian and Herald Sun are unwilling to publish corrections.