Marce Cameron, Sydney
Representatives from the City Hub and the City News, the Big Issue, Green Left Weekly and progressive organisations met on August 8 to launch the Sydney Free Speech Alliance. The alliance will campaign against the City of Sydney Council entering into a commercial agreement with Nationwide Newspapers — a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Limited publishing empire — for the distribution of the MX newspaper on city streets.
In an August 13 media release, City Hub and City News publisher and alliance spokesperson Lawrence Gibbons said: "Nationwide News will expect value for money — that is, that council rules in favour of MX distributors in any dispute over distribution rights at the street locations identified in the agreement. We urge all supporters of democratic rights and media diversity to support this campaign."
The group will also push for council to resolve in favour of the unrestricted right to distribute printed material, free of charge, without having to apply for a council permit.
A petition and sign-on statement calling on council to reject the MX deal and uphold freedom of speech have been launched. These can be downloaded from <http://www.greenleft.org.au>.
Click here to download the statement or here to download the petition. For more information email <marcec@greenleft.org.au> or phone 0421 986 860.
From Green Left Weekly, August 17, 2005.
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