- Your right to know
- The Herald Sun
- 20/11/2003 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 75 articles in 2003 )
DEMOCRACIES wither and die if the people are denied their fundamental right to know the truth.
Conversely, history is littered with despots who try to shackle a free media in the hope of fooling all of the people all of the time. In Australia, newspapers and the electronic media are embroiled in a continual struggle to get at the truth, while governments, the bureaucracy and the rich and the powerful try to stop them.
The battle for the right to reveal what is going on is hampered by draconian defamation laws.
Another barrier is Freedom of Information legislation - meant to create transparency, but too easily manipulated by officialdom.
And when governments and bureaucrats can't stop the truth getting out, they try to manage it - as does the Howard Government, whose bill for spin doctors and troubleshooters is running at an extravagant $500 million a year.
The latest example of abuse of FoI is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's arrogant refusal to respond to the Herald Sun's request under FoI for details of perks enjoyed by ABC executives.
The taxpayer-funded corporation offered the specious justification that it was "personal information". Could the real reason have been to save the corporation a red face?
Australia's new Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, professes commitment to achieving overdue uniformity in the nation's defamation laws. From state to state, these are a legal minefield for publishers.
But uniformity on its own, while bringing certainty, would not be enough.
Australia's defamation laws seriously restrict free speech; we come off a bad second against the United States, where the media enjoys constitutional freedom.
Targets of a probing media sometimes cry defamation merely to block further publication.
And litigants shop around to find the state in which they are most likely to win their case and get handsome damages.
It is a constant battle: there is always someone wanting to hide the truth.
Conversely, history is littered with despots who try to shackle a free media in the hope of fooling all of the people all of the time. In Australia, newspapers and the electronic media are embroiled in a continual struggle to get at the truth, while governments, the bureaucracy and the rich and the powerful try to stop them.
The battle for the right to reveal what is going on is hampered by draconian defamation laws.
Another barrier is Freedom of Information legislation - meant to create transparency, but too easily manipulated by officialdom.
And when governments and bureaucrats can't stop the truth getting out, they try to manage it - as does the Howard Government, whose bill for spin doctors and troubleshooters is running at an extravagant $500 million a year.
The latest example of abuse of FoI is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's arrogant refusal to respond to the Herald Sun's request under FoI for details of perks enjoyed by ABC executives.
The taxpayer-funded corporation offered the specious justification that it was "personal information". Could the real reason have been to save the corporation a red face?
Australia's new Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, professes commitment to achieving overdue uniformity in the nation's defamation laws. From state to state, these are a legal minefield for publishers.
But uniformity on its own, while bringing certainty, would not be enough.
Australia's defamation laws seriously restrict free speech; we come off a bad second against the United States, where the media enjoys constitutional freedom.
Targets of a probing media sometimes cry defamation merely to block further publication.
And litigants shop around to find the state in which they are most likely to win their case and get handsome damages.
It is a constant battle: there is always someone wanting to hide the truth.
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