tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/media-raids-71810/articlesMedia raids – The Conversation2019-09-30T11:15:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1244462019-09-30T11:15:42Z2019-09-30T11:15:42ZAny prosecution of journalists for national security offences to require attorney-general’s approval<p>As the battle between the government and media organisations over press freedom continues, Attorney-General Christian Porter has ordered that any prosecution of a journalist for an offence relating to national security must have his approval.</p>
<p>He has issued a direction under the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Act that where the CDPP considers there is a public interest in prosecuting a journalist, “the consent of the attorney-general will also be required as a separate and additional safeguard”.</p>
<p>The media freedom issue burst into prominence with the police raids into the home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst (over a story about a proposal to change the remit of the Australian Signals Directorate) and the ABC (over reporting on alleged bad behaviour by Australian special forces in Afghanistan).</p>
<p>Both media organisations have launched legal challenges over the raids. The Australian Federal Police have not ruled out charging the journalists involved.</p>
<p>Porter did not refer to the current investigations, but his direction effectively indicates the journalists will be protected from prosecution. It also sends a message to the AFP (although it does not come under his ministerial authority) not to push for prosecutions.</p>
<p>He said it was appropriate to issue the direction “given the significance of a free press as a principle of democracy”.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/media-raids-raise-questions-about-afps-power-and-weak-protection-for-journalists-and-whistleblowers-118328">Media raids raise questions about AFP's power and weak protection for journalists and whistleblowers</a>
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<p>The new provision “will allow the most detailed and cautious consideration of how an allegation of a serious offence should be balanced with our commitment to freedom of the press,” Porter said.</p>
<p>“I have previously said that I would be seriously disinclined to approve prosecutions of journalists except in the most exceptional circumstances and would pay particular attention to whether a journalist was simply operating according to the generally accepted principles of public interest journalism.</p>
<p>"If such a request came before me, I would, as first law officer consider the evidence, and it would be inappropriate to form a view before this time.”</p>
<p>The direction refers to specific sections of various relevant acts – the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act, the Crimes Act, the Criminal Code, and the Defence Act.</p>
<p>In August Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton gave a direction to the AFP – which comes under his ministerial umbrella - aimed at preventing repeats of the media raids when leaks are being investigated.</p>
<p>Dutton said his direction did not constrain police investigation of a leak. But “where consistent with operational imperatives, I expect the AFP to exhaust alternative investigative actions prior to considering whether involving a professional journalist or news media organisation is necessary.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/morrison-and-albanese-to-discuss-inquiry-into-press-freedom-119767">Morrison and Albanese to discuss inquiry into press freedom</a>
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<p>The Law Council of Australia was immediately critical of the Porter move, saying it would not improve press freedom. </p>
<p>Council president Arthur Moses said he had “grave concerns that this sort of direction undermines the independence of the CDPP by requiring her to obtain the consent of the attorney-general before prosecuting an offence.</p>
<p>"What will enhance press freedoms in this country is a proper review of our laws to ensure that the actions of journalists doing their job as a watchdog of government are not criminalised and put at risk of prosecution.”</p>
<p>Moses said the new requirement was not only inconsistent with principles of the separation of powers and press freedom but put both an attorney-general and the media in a very difficult position. </p>
<p>“It puts the attorney-general – a politician – in the position of authorising prosecutions of journalists in situations where they may have written stories critical of his government.</p>
<p>"It creates an apprehension on the part of journalists that they will need to curry favour with the government in order to avoid prosecution. The media must be able to lawfully report on matters of public interest without fear or favour.”</p>
<p>The Law Council has urged improved safeguards for warrants authorising investigative action and a Public Interest Advocate to provide greater transparency and accountability for search warrants relating to journalists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124446/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the battle over press freedom continues, the Attorney-General has ordered that any prosecution of a journalist for offences related to national security must have his approval.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1216262019-08-08T04:23:50Z2019-08-08T04:23:50ZNew ASIO head, Mike Burgess, is moving from one security agency to another<p>The new director of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) will be Mike Burgess, who moves from heading the Australian Signals Directorate.</p>
<p>Burgess has a solid history in the intelligence area and Labor has welcomed the choice.</p>
<p>Announcing the appointment, Scott Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said that in his ASD job, Burgess has been leading work “across the spectrum of operations required of a contemporary signals intelligence and security agency, including foreign intelligence, cyber security and offensive operations in support of the Australian government and Australian Defence Forces”.</p>
<p>Burgess earlier was on the government’s naval shipbuilding advisory board, and was deputy director for cyber and information security at the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD). He also worked as chief information security officer at Telstra.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/media-chiefs-unite-on-press-freedom-but-will-it-result-in-any-action-119405">Media chiefs unite on press freedom, but will it result in any action?</a>
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<p>Recently he was involved in the controversy over a News Corp report by Annika Smethurst of top level bureaucratic correspondence about a plan to expand ASD’s remit. Burgess and two departmental heads issued a rare public statement disputing the report. Later Smethurst’s home was raided by the Australian Federal Police.</p>
<p>As head of ASD, Burgess has brought the organisation “out from the shadows”, as he puts it, talking publicly about its role, which is as both a foreign intelligence and a cyber security agency.</p>
<p>He said <a href="https://www.asd.gov.au/publications/speech-lowy-institute-speech">in a speech</a> earlier this year, “transparency informs, helping dispel myths and most importantly helps with our value proposition to prospective employees”, admitting he was using transparency to attract recruits.</p>
<p>He has also <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-30/australian-signals-directorate-boss-explains-huawei-ban/10444064">spoken publicly</a> about the exclusion of Huawei from the 5G mobile communications network, saying “my advice was to exclude high-risk vendors from the entirety of evolving 5G networks”. He has attacked critics of the encryption laws passed late last year.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-be-wary-of-expanding-powers-of-the-australian-signals-directorate-119078">Why we should be wary of expanding powers of the Australian Signals Directorate</a>
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<p>A public profile has become more important as part of the ASIO job in recent years.</p>
<p>Burgess replaces Duncan Lewis, who recently announced he was stepping down.</p>
<p>ASIO, an independent authority, comes under the Home Affairs portfolio, where it was moved by the Coalition government. Previously it was under the Attorney-General, who is still required to sign off on some operations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121626/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mike Burgess, previously head of the Australian Signals Directorate, has a solid history in the intelligence area and Labor has welcomed the choice.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1210452019-08-04T20:07:00Z2019-08-04T20:07:00ZWhy investigative reporting in the digital age is waving, not drowning<p>You don’t need to look far to find doom and gloom stories about traditional media in the digital age. Yet linking media hardship to a view that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/nov/04/investigative-reporting-sheffield-docfest">investigative journalism is dying</a> is a misconception. </p>
<p>Yes, media outlets face many challenges. Last week’s 600-page <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries/digital-platforms-inquiry/final-report-executive-summary">ACCC report</a> showed traditional media organisations face a difficult economic environment as advertising and audiences have migrated to online tech giants like Google and Facebook. </p>
<p>Since the turn of the century, media companies’ revenue has been in free fall. Thousands of journalism jobs have gone, scores of mastheads have closed. Certain types of reporting, particularly on regional and local news, remain under threat for established Australian media outlets.</p>
<p>Then there were the recent <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-08/afp-raids-may-erode-business-investor-confidence/11192210">Australian Federal Police raids</a> on News Corp and ABC journalists, highlighting the political and legal pressures reporters face in the post-September 11 era.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/media-raids-raise-questions-about-afps-power-and-weak-protection-for-journalists-and-whistleblowers-118328">Media raids raise questions about AFP's power and weak protection for journalists and whistleblowers</a>
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<p>By doing their jobs reporting on stories in the public interest, journalists risk fines or even jail time. And their sources, the whistleblowers, face similar or worse fates.</p>
<p>Media freedom is a pressing global problem. Using the Australian example, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney warned at the recent <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/amal-clooney-issues-warning-to-australia-over-press-freedom">Defend Media Freedom conference</a> in London that the decline in press freedom is not limited to non-democracies like North Korea.</p>
<p>Another gloomy tale for news outlets is falling levels of public trust as more fake news confuses people about what is real and what is not. In turn, powerful world leaders from Donald Trump to Rodrigo Duterte <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Fake-News-Falsehood-Fabrication-and-Fantasy-in-Journalism/McNair/p/book/9781138306790">weaponise the term “fake news”</a> to weaken news media’s legitimacy.</p>
<p>These pressures on journalists matter because, as the ACCC reported, the news media play an important role in our democratic health. They inform us, and hold the powerful to account.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the market failure of news, my new book, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Investigative-Journalism-Democracy-and-the-Digital-Age-1st-Edition/Carson/p/book/9781138200524">Investigative Journalism, Democracy and the Digital Age</a>, finds that the watchdog role of journalism – investigative reporting – is adapting to its austere media environment. It is enduring, even thriving, in the digital age.</p>
<p>I undertook a nine-year study of investigative journalism in liberal democracies. This showed that journalists and their outlets undertake investigative reporting – which I define as a relatively uncommon form of journalism requiring more time and effort to unearth public interest information that others prefer were kept hidden – for different reasons. Some are commercial, to increase revenues; others are purely ideological with a commitment to be the “fourth estate”; others are a mix of the two.</p>
<p>In any case, we are witnessing a seismic shift in reporting practice. The old model of single-newsroom investigations marked by cut-throat rivalry has given way to a new model of multiple newsrooms cooperating and sharing information to expose systemic wrongdoing. A case in point is The Age and Sydney Morning Herald teaming up with Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes this week to expose the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/crown-s-unsavoury-business-links-how-australia-s-casino-got-tied-up-with-criminals-20190724-p52ag0.html">dodgy dealings of Crown Casino</a> and apparent regulatory failure. </p>
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<p>Investigative collaborations can challenge global power in ways not previously possible. For example, the reporting of the Panama Papers brought together almost 400 <a href="https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/">International Consortium of Investigative Journalists</a> (ICIJ) members to shine a spotlight on global tax avoidance. These stories led to governments recovering <a href="https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/">US$1.2 billion</a> through lost taxes and penalties.</p>
<p>The ICIJ is just one example of more than <a href="https://www.cima.ned.org/resource/global-investigative-journalism-strategies-for-support/">100 non-profit</a> investigative reporting organisations in 50 countries driving the new model of global investigative journalism. </p>
<p>Through 50 interviews with media experts, including investigative journalists from across the globe, analysing six decades of Australian newspapers, and analyses of prestigious journalism awards in Australia, Britain and the USA, I find that although traditional media has experienced immense hardship, it’s time to debunk the myth that investigative journalism is dying.</p>
<p>Instead, investigative journalism is often protected from newsroom cost-cutting.</p>
<p>It is in better shape than other forms of journalism because of its value to corporate branding and/or the public interest. Evidence-based investigative reporting re-establishes its publishers as quality media outlets in the digital age – when competition for attention is fierce – by offering unique public interest stories for which audiences are prepared to pay.</p>
<p>Here are seven of the book’s key findings.</p>
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<li><p>The digital age is a renaissance period for investigative reporting. This has been made possible through collaboration and scaling up investigations to national and transnational levels. </p></li>
<li><p>The downside to scaling up investigations is that local inquiries may suffer. Investigations may also be more narrowly targeted to assure a story outcome. This means there is less tolerance for “fishing exercises” than in more profitable times for media.</p></li>
<li><p>There are different models of collaboration and established media play a critical role in all of them. Some partnerships have been more successful than others. WikiLeaks collapsed, in part, because power in the partnership was not distributed equally, and personal relationships were strained. </p></li>
<li><p>Data journalism plays a vital role in enabling reporters to interrogate information and find patterns in the data indicating systemic wrongdoing. This includes incorporating social science methods such as statistical analysis to reveal “hidden truths”.</p></li>
<li><p>Mass anonymous data leaks combined with large-scale investigative collaborations push back against national governments’ national security laws that hamper journalists’ access to, and use of, sensitive documents and hinder whistleblowers’ capacity to speak out. </p></li>
<li><p>Investigative journalism is evidence-based reporting. This makes it a vital counter-narrative to fake news. Verified news returns authority to mastheads and media brands, which can offset falling public trust in media. This is illustrated by the “Trump bump” – an increase in donations and newspaper sales for outlets undertaking investigative reporting. ProPublica, a specialist US investigative reporting bureau, <a href="https://shorensteincenter.org/funding-the-news-foundations-and-nonprofit-media/">tripled its philanthropic income</a> from US$14.3 million in 2016 to US$43.5 million in 2017 after Trump’s election and demonisation of journalists.</p></li>
<li><p>There is no single solution for funding news or investigative journalism this century (yet). Rather, what is evident is the role of experimentation, adaptation and flexibility to find effective ways to fund investigative reporting. These include crowdsourcing, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Rise-of-NonProfit-Investigative-Journalism-in-the-United-States-1st/Birnbauer/p/book/9781138484474">philanthropy</a> and paywalls. Typically, news outlets adopt a hybrid funding model that relies on multiple revenue streams.</p></li>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-access-journalism-is-threatening-investigative-journalism-108831">How 'access journalism' is threatening investigative journalism</a>
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<p>While my book does not ignore limitations to investigative reporting, the evidence gathered suggests watchdog reporting’s future is one of optimism.</p>
<p>This matters because, in the words of one interviewee, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter <a href="https://gijn.org/election-of-board-for-gijn-2014/brant-houston/">Brant Houston</a>, when all other means of redressing injustice fail, investigative journalism is the “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Investigative-Journalism-Democracy-and-the-Digital-Age-1st-Edition/Carson/p/book/9781138200524">court of last resort</a>”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Carson is the author of 'Investigative Journalism, Democracy and the Digital Age' published by Routledge.</span></em></p>Despite media companies’ revenue declining in recent years, a nine-year study reveals that the greatly feared death of investigative journalism has not occurred.Andrea Carson, Associate Professor at La Trobe University. Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1197672019-07-02T12:29:35Z2019-07-02T12:29:35ZMorrison and Albanese to discuss inquiry into press freedom<p>Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese will discuss on Wednesday the government’s plan for an inquiry into the impact of the exercise of law enforcement and intelligence powers on press freedom.</p>
<p>The government said on Tuesday it will have the powerful Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security undertake the inquiry.</p>
<p>But Labor argues this is not the best forum and says the issue should go to a new parliamentary joint committee.</p>
<p>In the Senate on Tuesday shadow home affairs minister Kristina Keneally gave notice of a motion to establish a new select committee. Her motion is due to be voted on this Thursday. </p>
<p>In practice, the opposition could not get parliamentary support for a joint select committee - the best it could achieve would be getting the numbers for a Senate committee, and that would mean two inquiries. But another option would be for the opposition to press for the terms of reference of the PJCIS inquiry to be widened. </p>
<p>The terms of reference of Keneally’s proposed inquiry into “the appropriate balance between the public’s right to know, the freedom of the press and Australia’s national security” overlap some of the government’s but are considerably wider. </p>
<p>They would, for example, deal with whistle blowers, who are not covered in the government’s inquiry. The Keneally committee would also have crossbench representation; the security committee has only government and opposition members. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-the-media-companies-challenges-to-the-afp-raids-about-119382">Explainer: what are the media companies' challenges to the AFP raids about?</a>
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<p>Press freedom suddenly became a big issue after Australian Federal Police raids recently on the home of a News Corp journalist and on the ABC. The police were pursuing separate leaks of classified information. The ABC and News Corp have legal actions underway.</p>
<p>Media organisations have banded together in calls for strengthened protections for journalists. </p>
<p>Labor received Morrison’s letter to Albanese about the inquiry after Keneally gave her notice of motion, although the government said cabinet made the decision on Monday.</p>
<p>The PJCIS operates in a bipartisan fashion, albeit with a government majority, and has been where much security legislation has been refined.</p>
<p>Morrison’s letter said: “The Government is committed to ensuring our democracy strikes the right balance between a free press and keeping Australians safe – two fundamental tenets of our democracy”. The government would consider proposals that aim to ensure that balance, he said.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-raids-on-australian-media-present-a-clear-threat-to-democracy-118334">Why the raids on Australian media present a clear threat to democracy</a>
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<p>The government’s proposed terms of reference for the inquiry – reporting by October 17 - include looking at</p>
<p>… The experiences of media and media organisations that have, or could become, subject to the powers of law enforcement or intelligence agencies, and the impact of the exercise of those powers on journalists’ work, including informing the public;</p>
<p>… the reasons journalists and media organisations have, or could become, subject to those powers;</p>
<p>… whether any, and if so what, changes could be made to procedures and thresholds for exercising those powers to better balance the need for press freedom with the need for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to investigate serious offending and obtain intelligence on security threats.</p>
<p>Two issues are nominated for specific inquiry</p>
<p>..whether and in what circumstances there could be contested hearings on warrants authorising investigative action involving media; and</p>
<p>.. the appropriateness of current thresholds for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access electronic data on devices used by media. </p>
<p>Morrison said in his letter the terms of reference would give the committee an opportunity “to hear from both journalists and media organisations about the experience of being subject to the exercise of law enforcement and intelligence powers, as well as from government officials and agencies as to the reasons why these powers are used”.</p>
<p>He said the security committee was “well placed to conduct this inquiry given its responsibility for, and experience in, handling issues concerning national security information and legislation”.</p>
<p>The Keneally committee’s proposed terms of reference would cover</p>
<p>…Disclosure and public reporting of sensitive and classified information, including the appropriate regime for warrants in relation to the media, and adequacy of existing legislation;</p>
<p>… whistle-blower and public sector protections;</p>
<p>.. referral practices of the government after leaks;</p>
<p>..appropriate culture, practice and leadership for government and senior public employees;</p>
<p>.. mechanisms to ensure the Australian Federal Police have sufficient independence in investigating politically sensitive matters.</p>
<p>Keneally said: “The events of the past month have raised the question – is a free press a right Australians can continue to rely on under the Morrison government?</p>
<p>"There is a culture of secrecy and perverting the public’s right to know that has been making its way through this government for too long, and it’s time to call it out.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Labor is proposing establishing a new parliamentary committee to look into press freedom; one that will deal with whistle blowers and have crossbench representation.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1183282019-06-06T03:11:57Z2019-06-06T03:11:57ZMedia raids raise questions about AFP’s power and weak protection for journalists and whistleblowers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278241/original/file-20190606-40747-1507oj5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=395%2C0%2C3005%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wes Mountain/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-raids-on-australian-media-present-a-clear-threat-to-democracy-118334">their raids</a> on media organisations, journalists and whistleblowers, the Australian Federal Police have shown themselves to be the tool of a secretive, ruthless and vindictive executive government.</p>
<p>Secretive because the extensive web of laws passed under the rubric of national security, on top of the secrecy provisions of the Commonwealth Crimes Act, gives the executive wide powers to classify as secret anything it wishes to hide. As the former investigative reporter Ross Coulthart <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/metadata-access-is-putting-whistleblowers-journalists-and-democracy-at-risk-20150504-1mzfi0.html">once memorably said</a>, it could include the office Christmas card. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-raids-on-australian-media-present-a-clear-threat-to-democracy-118334">Why the raids on Australian media present a clear threat to democracy</a>
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<p>Ruthless because the stories revealed by whistleblowers and reporters targeted by the AFP and other security agencies have offered accounts of cruelty, misconduct, dishonesty and slyness. These include:</p>
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<li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/may/24/australian-police-accessed-phone-records-of-asylum-whistleblower">harm done</a> to the mental health of asylum-seeker children on Manus Island and Nauru</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/former-asis-spy-charged-after-exposing-east-timor-bugging-mp-reveals-20180628-p4zo9k.html">bugging the East Timor cabinet office</a> as part of an attempt to cheat the Timorese out of their fair share of the Timor Sea oil reserves</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-11/killings-of-unarmed-afghans-by-australian-special-forces/8466642">alleged breaches</a> of the rules of engagement by Australian military personnel in Afghanistan</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/05/police-raid-on-annika-smethurst-shows-surveillance-expose-hit-a-nerve">proposals to intensify</a> domestic spying on Australian citizens.</p></li>
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<p>Vindictive because in the most recent two cases it has taken more than a year after publication for the AFP to take action, revealing how utterly lacking in any real threat to national security the leaks and publications were.</p>
<p>It follows that these raids are a naked attempt to take revenge on whistleblowers and intimidate the journalists who published their stories.</p>
<p>As for the AFP, while it is true they are acting in response to references from other government agencies, it raises questions about the way they exercise their vaunted operational independence.</p>
<p>What weight do they give to how real a threat to national security is posed by any particular leak? What weight do they give to the imperative that leakers be made an example of and journalists be intimidated? Or do they just want to show the rest of the executive branch that they are on the team?</p>
<p>In addition to this question of AFP culture, many interrelated factors have brought Australia to this point – a clear and present danger to freedom of the press.</p>
<p>One is the catch-all nature of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/0833_crimesact.pdf">section 70 of the Commonwealth Crimes Act</a>. This makes it an offence punishable by up to two years’ jail for a public servant or former public servant to make an unauthorised disclosure of any fact or document they come across in their role as a public servant.</p>
<p>Another is the vast body of national security laws — about 70 of them at last count.</p>
<p>In the context of press freedom, one of the most oppressive is the so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-security-benefits-of-warrantless-surveillance-are-as-clear-as-mud-49278">metadata law of 2015</a>, which makes it relatively easy for the police and security forces to carry out electronic surveillance of communications between <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-raids-on-australian-media-present-a-clear-threat-to-democracy-118334">journalists and their sources</a>.</p>
<p>Not only do these laws provide for the criminal prosecution of journalists, they also contain very limited public-interest defences. In many instances, they reverse the onus of proof, so the journalist has to prove a defence rather than the prosecution having to prove guilt.</p>
<p>A third factor is the Commonwealth’s weak whistleblower protection law, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2013A00133">Public Interest Disclosure Act</a>. This offers no specific protection for a whistleblower who goes to the media, even after he or she has tried to get the wrongdoing corrected internally. We are seeing this play out in the courts now with the prosecution of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-04/ato-whistleblower-richard-boyle-appears-in-adelaide-court/11177268">Tax Office whistleblower Richard Boyle</a>.</p>
<p>Three government ministers — Prime Minister <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-06/scott-morrison-questioned-on-press-freedom-after-afp-raids/11184058">Scott Morrison</a>, Treasurer <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6200863/police-raid-abc-offices-journalists-home/">Josh Frydenberg</a> and Attorney-General Christian Porter — have all batted away questions about the latest police raids, taking refuge in saying it is the law taking its course.</p>
<p>That is not the point. The point is that the politicians have constructed a repressive legal regime designed to protect the executive branch of government, impede accountability to the public and exert a chilling effect on the press.</p>
<p>This is not a party-political argument. Labor has largely supported the creation of this regime, although to be fair it has forced through some amendments to give some protection to journalists.</p>
<p>A fourth factor is that Australia is alone among the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-the-australian-intelligence-community-works-94422">Five Eyes</a>” countries that make up the West’s main intelligence network in having no constitutional protection for freedom of the press. The US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand all have this protection in some form.</p>
<p>Finally, laws that do exist in Australia to protect journalists’ sources offer no protection from police raids and electronic surveillance.</p>
<p>These laws – called “shield laws” because they are designed to shield the identity of confidential sources – apply only in court proceedings. They allow a journalist to claim a privilege against disclosing information that may identify a confidential source. The court then has to weigh up the consequences of forcing the journalist to identify the source.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-shield-laws-can-be-ineffective-in-protecting-journalists-sources-101106">Why shield laws can be ineffective in protecting journalists' sources</a>
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<p>If a source is identified by electronic surveillance or seizure of files or electronic devices, the journalist is powerless to keep any promise of confidentiality.</p>
<p>We are back to the days when communicating with confidential sources can be done safely only through snail mail or – after leaving mobile devices behind – in underground car parks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118328/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denis Muller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This week’s raids on media show our democracy at its darkest.Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.