Our Declining State of Press Freedom
Last month the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) released their 2007 Press Freedom Report titled Official Spin: Censorship and Control of the Australian Press 2007. The report highlights the declining state of press freedom in Australia, particularly with regard to laws enacted in the name of national security. Scott Richardson takes a look at the report's findings and its implications.
The MEAA report discusses the recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission's report into sedition laws. The report suggested that the offence of urging of others to use force should be clearly intentional with the intent being for violence to occur and that a jury should take into consideration the context for which the alleged seditious comments occurred, that is, in an industrial dispute or an artistic performance for example.
The report notes that it took Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock five days to ignore all 27 recommendations and make no amendments.
George Williams, the Anthony Mason Professor and Director of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law at UNSW writes in the MEAA report:
"These examples demonstrate how fragile freedom of speech is in Australia. They expose how we assume, rather than actually protect, the freedom. Like other democratic nations, we ought to grant expression specific legal protection in a national charter of rights."
The report goes on to describe the manipulation of non-government organisations (NGOs). Dr Sarah Maddison of UNSW writes that the Federal Government has engaged in unprecedented attacks on NGOs that disagree with Government policy. Dr Maddison argues that questions on their accountability and their future classification as charitable organisations are used to quell their dissenting views. Meanwhile other more ‘disciplined’ NGOs are elevated by funding and through the placement of members onto Government boards.
Dr Maddison writes: "Like individual citizens, community groups are being worn down and are increasingly reluctant to engage in the democratic process because they no longer believe that they can make a difference. There are grounds for serious concern that the longer this continues the more difficult it will be to reshape and rebuild the structures of democratic participation."
The report also discusses the increasing problems with Freedom of Information laws, the increasing concentration of the media market and attacks on the ABC.
It’s not just the MEAA that have been pointing to the worrying status of free press in Australia.
Australia has dropped two places on the Reporters Without Borders annual press freedom index for 2007 to 35th. According to Reporters without Border’s annual report "Australia lost ground because of anti-terrorist laws potentially dangerous for journalists." Australia is now behind developing African nations Benin, Ghana and Namibia.
The RWB report continues: "In February, the government also banned the press from freely covering the arrival in the country of Papuan refugees. Generally speaking, numerous restrictions are imposed on journalists wanting to cover the plight of people in Australia’s camps for asylum-seekers."
The International Federation of Journalists has entered the debate regarding the changes to Australia’s cross-media ownership laws. The IFJ General Secretary Aiden White said "if (the media ownership) laws lead to fewer voices in a media landscape then that is an attack on the right to freedom of expression...in a democracy, when the power to control news and information is reduced to a handful, then that is a fundamental assault on democracy."
The MEAA report discusses the recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission's report into sedition laws. The report suggested that the offence of urging of others to use force should be clearly intentional with the intent being for violence to occur and that a jury should take into consideration the context for which the alleged seditious comments occurred, that is, in an industrial dispute or an artistic performance for example.
The report notes that it took Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock five days to ignore all 27 recommendations and make no amendments.
George Williams, the Anthony Mason Professor and Director of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law at UNSW writes in the MEAA report:
"These examples demonstrate how fragile freedom of speech is in Australia. They expose how we assume, rather than actually protect, the freedom. Like other democratic nations, we ought to grant expression specific legal protection in a national charter of rights."
The report goes on to describe the manipulation of non-government organisations (NGOs). Dr Sarah Maddison of UNSW writes that the Federal Government has engaged in unprecedented attacks on NGOs that disagree with Government policy. Dr Maddison argues that questions on their accountability and their future classification as charitable organisations are used to quell their dissenting views. Meanwhile other more ‘disciplined’ NGOs are elevated by funding and through the placement of members onto Government boards.
Dr Maddison writes: "Like individual citizens, community groups are being worn down and are increasingly reluctant to engage in the democratic process because they no longer believe that they can make a difference. There are grounds for serious concern that the longer this continues the more difficult it will be to reshape and rebuild the structures of democratic participation."
The report also discusses the increasing problems with Freedom of Information laws, the increasing concentration of the media market and attacks on the ABC.
It’s not just the MEAA that have been pointing to the worrying status of free press in Australia.
Australia has dropped two places on the Reporters Without Borders annual press freedom index for 2007 to 35th. According to Reporters without Border’s annual report "Australia lost ground because of anti-terrorist laws potentially dangerous for journalists." Australia is now behind developing African nations Benin, Ghana and Namibia.
The RWB report continues: "In February, the government also banned the press from freely covering the arrival in the country of Papuan refugees. Generally speaking, numerous restrictions are imposed on journalists wanting to cover the plight of people in Australia’s camps for asylum-seekers."
The International Federation of Journalists has entered the debate regarding the changes to Australia’s cross-media ownership laws. The IFJ General Secretary Aiden White said "if (the media ownership) laws lead to fewer voices in a media landscape then that is an attack on the right to freedom of expression...in a democracy, when the power to control news and information is reduced to a handful, then that is a fundamental assault on democracy."
posted by Scott Richardson at 9:34 pm
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