The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) has condemned the proposed Telecommunications (Interceptions and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014 as an outrageous attack on press freedom that will have a chilling effect on journalists and their ability to work with sources to bring matters of public interest to light. Long before the current Bill, in August 2012, MEAA wrote in its...
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), the union and industry advocate for Australia's journalists, has condemned the decision of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to abandon the investigation into the murder of five Australian journalists in East Timor. October 16 marked the 39th anniversary of the murder of journalists Brian Peters, Malcolm Rennie, Tony Stewart, Gary Cunningham and...
The International Federation of Journalists and its affiliate Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) have described the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill No 1 as an outrageous attack on press freedom in Australia. The amendment bill was ‘urgently’ pushed through the Senate receiving 44 votes to 12 on the night of Thursday September 25 with bipartisan support from the Labor...
Australia's National Security Reform Bill One was passed in the upper house on Thursday and would become law if passed by the lower house this week as expected, according to reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it is gravely concerned over the national security-related bill, which could result in prison time of up to 10 years for journalists who report on intelligence in...
A bill introduced in the Australian parliament on Wednesday could result in journalists being targeted for prosecution and jail for reporting on intelligence information. The bill includes the creation of a new offense punishable by five years in prison for "any person" who discloses information relating to "special intelligence operations," reports said. In special intelligence operations...
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), the union and industry advocate for Australia's journalists, has welcomed the decision by Justice Janine Pritchard in the West Australian Supreme Court to order Gina Rinehart's company Hancock Prospecting to pay the legal costs incurred by senior Fairfax Media journalist and MEAA Media member Adele Ferguson. Rinehart, who has the largest individual...
Staff at two of Australia's biggest broadsheet newspapers are considering strike action after their management announced another round of cost cuts, ABC has reported. Fairfax Media has announced that in-house sub-editors at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age will no longer proof-read, fact-check and rewrite stories before they go to print. The details: [ Link] The company's chief executive...
The BBC and the Associated Press Television News (APTN) censored satirical coverage of Friday’s royal wedding in London by The Chaser, an Australian comedy team. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) was forced to cancel The Chaser’s alternative coverage of the wedding after the BBC threatened to withdraw its feed from the national broadcaster if it did not stop the programme. The BBC was...
Rival Australian newspaper publishers Fairfax Media and APN News & Media have agreed on an alliance combining Fairfax’s online classified advertising with the print classified sections of 90 regional daily and local newspapers published by APN in Queensland and Northern New South Wales. The deal, bandt.co.au reported, will allow Fairfax to promote its classified websites – Drive.com.au, Domain.com...
Australia's proud international reputation for the strength of its democratic institutions and civil rights records received a blow with the latest findings of the 'Report of the Independent Audit into the State of Free Speech in Australia'. RSF focused on the anti-terrorism laws in Australia that “risk being abusively used against the press” such as phone-tapping without judicial supervision or...
