Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Obviously the answer is no, but the journey is worth it

Obviously the answer is no, but the journey is worth it

A weekly podcast featuring interviews with Australian politicians and political commentators. This is the official AMA Video Podcast channel of the r/Australian community of Reddit. All content is cop...

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

The article by Peter Greste, executive director of the Alliance for Journalists' Freedom and a journalism professor at Macquarie University, argues that Australia urgently needs a media freedom bill following recent actions by former US President Donald Trump and Australian political party One Nation. Trump recently banned journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House, labeling them 'fake news' without providing specific details. This move has been widely criticized as a significant threat to press freedom, with former President Barack Obama stating it would be 'unimaginable' for him to have banned Fox News. The Washington press corps has responded by suspending the press pool system, which allows media to cover White House events. In Australia, One Nation has repeatedly excluded reporters from the ABC and The Guardian from its news conferences, signaling it would do the same for other media outlets it dislikes. Unlike the US, Australia lacks constitutional protection for press freedom or freedom of speech. The country only has an 'implied freedom of political communication' derived from the constitution, which has been overridden in critical cases, such as when the ABC failed to use this right to challenge a 2019 police search warrant related to its Afghan Files reporting. Greste emphasizes that while Australia cannot realistically expect constitutional reform like the US First Amendment, it should not wait until journalists are being physically barred from Parliament House before enacting legislation. The Alliance for Journalists' Freedom is advocating for a media freedom bill that would enshrine press freedom in legal code, requiring parliament to treat it as a protected human right and ensuring courts recognize the public interest in journalistic work. The article concludes that Trump's attack on press freedom represents a critical inflection point, demonstrating how democratic norms have shifted under his presidency and highlighting the danger of relying on convention rather than established law for press freedom protection. The author stresses that Australia's current lack of legal safeguards for press freedom makes it vulnerable to similar attacks as seen in the US, and that proactive legislation is necessary to prevent future erosion of media rights.

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like

Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like