Australia's media launches a press freedom campaign

Mariam Cheik-Hussein
By Mariam Cheik-Hussein | 21 October 2019
 
This morning's redacted front page

Australia’s news media industry has launched a united press freedom campaign. 

As part of the push, Your Right to Know, a TV commercial was produced and front pages of newspapers have been heavily "redacted" to raise public awareness about the lack of transparency from governments.

Major news organisations including Nine, ABC, News Corp Australia, Seven West Media, Ten and Bauer joined the campaign which spreads across the nation in print, digital, radio and TV.

“This is not just about police raids of journalists’ homes and our nation’s newsrooms,” Nine Entertainment’s CEO Hugh Marks says.

“This is much bigger than the media. It’s about defending the basic right of every Australian to be properly informed about the important decisions the government is making in their name.”

The group highlights 75 laws relating to secrecy and spying over the past two decades that “effectively criminalise journalism and penalise whistleblowing”.

One high profile case is Richard Boyle who spoke out about the Australian Taxation Office’s ability to take money out of people’s bank accounts without their knowledge. Boyle now faces six life sentences if found guilty of all 66 charges.

The media group is seeking legislative changes so journalists don’t fear imprisonment for their reporting, as well as forcing the government to weigh the public interest before applying for search warrants and launching prosecutions.

Nine’s Hugh Marks and News Corp Australasia chair Michael Miller have been pushing the campaign together this morning, joining 2GB’s Alan Jones on breakfast radio.

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