Australian press less democratic

SYDNEY — The union representing journalists in Australia says that press freedom is increasingly under pressure. The media muzzled: Australia's 2006 press freedom report, sponsored by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance), was released on April 28.

MEAA federal secretary Christopher Warren said that attacks on freedom of speech are becoming more blatant as "governments, courts, police, gangs of thugs and large corporations openly contravene rights of free expression to manipulate, hide and block the release of information into the public domain".

The government's new sedition laws are a major source of this pressure, and Australia issues 26 times more phone interception warrants than the US.

The report can be found at
.

Dale Mills

From Green Left Weekly, May 3, 2006.

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From GLW issue 666