Australian media groups join hands to fight for press freedom

BY A CORRESPONDENT

11 May, 2007: Major media groups of Australia have joined hands to fight against what they perceive as increasing threats to freedom of the press from the government and the courts.

The chief executives of Australia’s top newspapers and broadcasting companies called a news conference in Sydney on May 10, 2007, to announce the formation of the unprecedented coalition.

According to the media coalition, called Australia’s Right to Know, new terror-related laws, the refusal of applications under freedom of information rules, and court suppression orders were among the growing restrictions.

Two international studies have ranked Australia 35th and 39th, respectively, on a world press freedom index, says John Hartigan, chairman and chief executive of News Limited, owned by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

John Hartigan laments that restrictions on free speech means that Australia is “a lightweight democracy” compared with countries like Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Australia’s freedom of speech ranks behind Bosnia and Bolivia and just in front of El Salvador, he says.

The campaign brings together newspaper publishers News Limited and Fairfax Media, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the commercial radio and television industries, the national news agency Australian Associated Press, and Sky News.

The major titles of News Limited include The Australian and The Daily Telegraph, while Fairfax’s flagship publication is the Sydney Morning Herald.

The media groups, says John Hartigan, have set aside their traditional rivalries to form the coalition. He expects other media organizations to join the campaign over the next few days.

The coalition will commission an audit of the growing restrictions on the media and recruit a chairman to lead lobbying of the federal and state governments and the courts.

Australia faces a general election in 2007, with Prime Minister John Howard’s conservative government seeking a fifth straight term in office. John Hartigan explained that the media initiative was not aimed at any political party and that the media is now “tangled up with more than 500 legal prohibitions that limit the release of public information.”

He cited many instances where journalists at News Limited were thwarted in their attempts to report information in public interest. The journalists were not allowed to report on politicians cheating on expenses, on restaurants that failed health inspections, and schools with the worst bullying, John Hartigan said.

According to Chris Warren, federal secretary of the media alliance, Australia’s media continues to be muzzled by the authoritarian actions of government and an anti-disclosure culture determined to manage and control information.

Media Alliance, the journalists’ union, has welcomed the initiative by the media owners.