# Oral presentation

**Topic:** Importance of media independence and transparency for democracy

## Context

- <https://theconversation.com/why-the-raids-on-australian-media-present-a-clear-threat-to-democracy-118334>
- <https://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-federal-police-raid-abc-headquarters-at-sydney-s-ultimo-20190605-p51uof.html>
- <https://washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/10/australia-is-war-with-journalists/>
- <https://www.pm.gov.au/media/doorstop-interview-portsmouth-uk>
- <https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/afp-statement-search-warrant-sydney>

Journalist Information Warrant - allows access to restrained metadata  
AFP raid on ABC - June 2019  
"alleged publishing of information classified as an official secret"


## Articles

Ananian-Welsh. _Why the raids on Australian media present a clear threat to democracy_. <https://theconversation.com/why-the-raids-on-australian-media-present-a-clear-threat-to-democracy-118334>  
Ketchell, Misha. _The devil is in the detail of government bill to enable access to communications data_. <https://theconversation.com/the-devil-is-in-the-detail-of-government-bill-to-enable-access-to-communications-data-96909>  
UNESCO. _World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development_. 2018. <https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000261065>  
Parker, Samuel. _‘Unwanted invaders’: The representation of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK and Australian print media_. March 2016. <http://orca.cf.ac.uk/79108/1/ESharp%20Article%20SP.pdf>  


## Structure

**Introduction**  
Discuss context and recent developments

- ABC raided on 5 June 2019 for "the Afghan files" report
- Leaked defence documents which revealed corruption, incl. killing of unarmed men and children (murder) - ethical appeal
- Lyons (ABC exec. editor): "we waive no rights, and reserve the right to take injunction against the warrant"
- Secrecy offences punishable by seven years imprisonment
- AFP also searched Annikea Smethurt's house (not connected) - personal surveillance report
- Morrisson "not troubled" by raids, but said "I believe in freedom of the press"
- Importance & risk of public interest journalism

**1. Importance of source confidentiality/protection**

   - Ethical foundation of journalists
   - Enables individuals to share controversial/sensitive information with journalists without fear of persecution
   - International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights - <https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/gc34.pdf>
   - Right of access to information: "right of access to informmation held by public bodies ... [including] records held by a public body, regardless of the form"
   - "The right of access to information includes a right whereby the media has access to information on public affairs"
   - "Every individual should have the right to ascertain in an intelligible form ... what personal data is stored in automatic data files, and for what purposes"
   - Limited aid of encrypted messaging and internal protocols

**2. Impact on democracy**

   - AU has more national security laws than any other nation
   - AU is the only liberal democracy without Charter of Human Rights to protect media freedom
   - Democracy means everyone has the right to contribute to the choosing of their government. If the government is not portraying themselves honestly, how can we make an accurate decision?
   - Analogy to control of media in Ukraine (no English media allowed), other communist states

**3. Risk of bias**

   - Control of media could lead to more drastic censorship
   - Society has a right to know the truth about the leadership of their country
   - With censorship, journalists cannot do their job - their abilities are being stifled
   - Media could slowly become taken over by the government, leading to further corruption ("slippery slope")
   - Surveillance



**Conclusion**

- Kevin Rudd calls for royal commission for media power abuse and unethical journalism (e.g. Murdoch)
- Decline of public interest journalism
- Sources are less likely to take risks to reveal corruption and misconduct
- Media Freedom Act - recognise and protect freedom of jouranlists

## Speech


As a young and aspiring Australian, I believe that I have the right to know what’s going on in this country, through unbiased and transparent media reporting. Integrity of the media is absolutely fundamental to the implementation of a sound democracy free of corruption, and at the moment, we are dangerously close to the slippery slope of censorship and corrupt journalism. The recent raids on the ABC, which occurred in June in response to a report titled “The Afghan Files”, are a prime example of the impact that government control can have on this industry - it undermines the fundamental principles of investigative journalism, leading us down a dark road towards a blind and corrupt society. Just this week, the director of the ABC has stood up against the government' continued harassment and requested that any action against individual journalists be ceased immediately. Sadly, there *still* hasn’t been any response from government representatives. In another very recent case, which I will discuss later, a journalist’s personal home was searched, because apparently she posed a risk to national security. In fact, she was just doing her job.

There’s been a lot of talk about the issue of journalists’ rights lately - I guess you could call it “meta-journalism”. It’s an interesting issue because the lines get blurred very easily - it’s hard to tell whose side someone is on, and there’s quite a broad range of opinions. But this was triggered initially when two ABC journalists, Dan Oakes and Sam Clarke, were approached by the Australian Federal Police, and were first fingerprinted, then the ABC office in Sydney was raided. And these two men were simply doing their job as investigative journalists. Yet, their treatment was horrible - these two journalists were being treated like they’d just broken into a house. It’s now been uncovered, by investigative journalism no less, that the Federal Police had spent *10 months* building a case against the two journalists, not because they were criminal, but because they published literature which caused embarrassment to the Federal Government. There was absolutely no threat to national security.

The concept of source confidentiality is one of the most important ethical practices that a journalist learns in their training. Sources are at the heart of strong journalism and writing - without valid evidence for a claim, there is nothing to report on and no way to inform the people of what’s happening in their country. According to ABC journalist Antony Funnell, sources are “the nuts and bolts of being a reporter” - there is nothing more crucial than getting information first-hand. In a Radio National program titled *The Media Report*, Funnell goes on to explain that interactions with sources are “anything but dramatic, very rarely earth-shattering”. But it is these rare edge cases which provide a catalyst to an avalanche of knowledge which enables journalism to shine at its best. However, it is these rare encounters with a vital source which authorities are most interested in, and as shown in the recent ABC raids, this is what the government is most concerned about.

Source confidentiality involves keeping the sources of a report confidential to protect the informants and journalists. To some, this may seem like a counter-intuitive principle - surely transparency and freedom of information are more important? But in fact, transparency is indirectly enhanced by journalists keeping their sources private. To understand how this works, it helps to put yourself in the shoes of someone informing a journalist. Imagine you’re part of some large corporation, and you notice someone higher up doing some shady things with money. In fact, you’re so sure that there is some serious corruption going on that you desperately want to do something about it. But as we all know, taking personal action is rarely the right way to go about it. But in many cases, journalists act as a middleman for these individuals who are otherwise trapped. Obviously, exposing the source of the knowledge on corruption defeats the purpose of exposing it, since it puts the person in immediate danger. Thus, if the exposure of corruption required the individual to be named, it would never happen because people would be too scared to report it without fear of persecution. With source confidentiality, the media acts as a kind of objective, self-regulating analysis of society, representing all points of view equally and exposing events that would otherwise go unnoticed. And this is just the kind of perspective that society needs right now.

One extreme example of the effect of this control is in Ukraine, where in October last year, any type of news media, online or in print, had to be in the official state language of Ukrainian. Since many independent publications were exclusively in English, this posed a huge risk to the freedom of journalism in Ukraine. Fortunately, these laws were relaxed after the inauguration of their new president in May this year.

On the 4th of June, the Herald Sun journalist Annika Smethurst had her personal home raided by the Australian Federal Police, in relation to a report she wrote revealing increasing power of government spy agencies in Australia. The subject of her report was concerning enough: it described proposed laws that would allow undercover access to secret bank records, email, and text messages, by the Australian Signals Directive. But the cowardly response of fear from the Federal Police is what’s most astounding in this issue. After arriving unannounced, police spent the day sifting through all of Smethurt’s belongings, an intimidating and frightening *seven hours* in which her phone, computer, papers, and all her physical belongings were searched. The raid did not end in an arrest, but that’s not the point - it is the principle of persecuting individual journalists for their contribution to society which is most troubling to me - it represents a lack of support for a transparent and honest system of governance.

Despite living in a democracy, the government still has an immense amount of power. Some of the decisions they make have the potential to affect everyone so broadly, so how can it possibly be right to hide it from the public? Part of the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights covers this issue, stating that “every individual should have the right to ascertain in an intelligible form, whether, and if so, what personal data is stored in automatic data files, and for what purposes”. This makes it crystal clear that the government should *not* be hiding their surveillance plans from us, even if it is to strengthen national security. In fact, Australia has more strict national security laws than any other liberal democratic nation, according to experienced journalist Misha Ketchell. Further, Australia is the only liberal democracy which doesn’t have a charter of human rights - so media independence is virtually impossible to enforce officially at the moment.

And even more specific to this incident with Annika Smethurst’s report, the Covenant says “The free communication of information and ideas about public and political issues between citizens, candidates and elected representatives is essential. This implies a free press and other media able to comment on public issues and to inform public opinion without censorship or restraint.” This paragraph goes deeper into the issue and describes exactly what the government is *not* allowing in terms of communication: “a free press”… “to inform public opinion *without* censorship or restraint”. I think it’s quite clear at this point that the recent incident was definitely a violation of these rights, and I think that’s a shameful action for the Federal Police and for the Australian Government.

After these events, Scott Morrison said he was “not troubled” by the raids, but “believed in the freedom of the press”. How can anyone who believes in media freedom be *not troubled* by this? It’s a hideous deception, and I encourage everyone, regardless of their background, to carefully and objectively observe the way that this cowardly attitude towards the media is sneaking up on us as a society, and consider the importance of media independence for a sound and productive society. I'd like to leave you with a quote from Julian Assange. He says "Journalism should be more like science. As far as possible, facts should be verifiable. If journalists want long-term credibility for their profession, they have to go in that direction. Have more respect for readers." Thank you.