Australia

Australia
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Australia

183 articles

Australia: Axing of Arts Department a fresh blow for struggling sector

“… as we have seen with the erosion of the public’s right to know and attacks on press freedom, this is a government that is intent on silencing the storytellers, particularly those who confront it on issues it would rather keep hidden.”

Australia: Media industry must unite against gender-based online abuse

A report about the online harassment of women media workers and proposed strategies to counter gender-based abuse.

Australia: MEAA joins media organisations in campaign for the public’s right to know

Media groups have launched an unprecedented united campaign for reforms to protect media freedom, whistleblowers and the public’s right to know.

Australia: Media groups call for reforms to protect press freedom

14 media companies and associations, including the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, has submitted recommendations to the Parliament on laws that need to be reviewed in order to uphold press freedom.

Australia: Police raids a disturbing ‘new normal’ that seeks to criminalise journalism

Police in Australia raided media offices and the home of a journalist within 24 hours.

How the public’s right to know is being undermined in Australia

The foreword to the MEAA report into the state of press freedom in Australia in 2019

Kurdish refugee Behrouz Boochani, with one of his friends, a local resident, on Manus island, 8 February 2018, Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via Getty Images

Writers call for the release of Kurdish refugee Behrouz Boochani

Dozens of Australian writers have signed a letter calling for the release of Behrouz Boochani from the Manus Island detention centre.

A man reads a newspaper at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia, 3 November 2016, Stefan Postles/Getty Images for the VRC

Australia urged to overhaul defamation law

MEAA said there is an urgent need for an overhaul of Australia’s outdated defamation laws.

ABC Chairman, Justin Milne, 25 August 2005 , TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP/Getty Images

Australia: Calls to secure independence of national broadcaster ABC

There are allegations of attempts by the ABC chairman to fire a journalist in response to political pressure.

Protesters holding banners march to urge the Australian government to end the refugee crisis on Manus Island, Sydney, Australia, 2017, PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images

Australia: New video on cruel ‘offshore processing’ policy

This month marks the fifth anniversary of refugees suffering on Manus, Nauru islands

Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove speaks during the reopening of Parliament in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, 18 April 2016, Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Australia criminalises journalism: A new report

Among other issues noted in MEAA’s new report is a new draft law that could lock journalists up for 20 years – simply for reporting information in the public interest.

Mounted police keep order as protestors gather at State Parliament in Melbourne, on Australia Day, 26 January 2018, James D. Morgan/Getty Images

How Australia’s security bill threatens journalists and whistleblowers

The National Security Legislation Amendment Bill could result in journalists being sent to prison just for receiving classified information.

Campaigners for cartoonist Ali Dorani (Mr. Eaten Fish) demand he be allowed into Australia for medical care during a protest in Melbourne, Australia, 18 February 2017,  Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

After four years of detention on Manus Island refugee camp, cartoonist Eaten Fish is now free

Cartoonist Ali Durani, better known as Eaten Fish, has arrived in a safe haven country.

An advertising billboard is seen outside the Channel Seven Network studios in Melbourne, Australia, 21 February 2011, REUTERS/Mick Tsikas

Australia: Address sexual harassment cases in media companies

A survey in Australia revealed that of 1000 participants, some 48% of women respondents have experienced intimidation, abuse or sexual harassment in the workplace.

A Fairfax journalist takes part in a protest against staff cuts at the "Sydney Morning Herald" and "Melbourne Age" newspapers in central Sydney, Australia, 4 May 2017, REUTERS/David Gray

Australia: Media diversity and jobs to be lost under ‘reforms’

Legislation expected to be passed to remove the two-out-of-three ownership rule will mean an inevitable loss of diversity in the Australian media, says the union for Australian journalists and media workers.

The UN-HRC chamber, Geneva, Switzerland., Getty Images

HRC 36: Secure digital communications are essential for human rights

A joint statement by the Association of Progressive Communications, IFEX and 64 co-signatories at the UN-HRC 36 warns of the threat to human rights posed by recent attacks on the right to use encryption technology, in Turkey and across the globe.