Australia comes in 35th on RSF’s freedom of the press list behind countries including Ghana, Lithuania, Bosnia, Cyprus and even New Zealand. It’s a complete and utter national disgrace, but not surprising really, our Federal Government jails journalists for not revealing their sources, video bloggers will shortly potentially need to be licensed to do video online, and libel laws are headed in the wrong direction in terms of the publics right to know. We should be top of this list! Of course, you won’t read much about it in the MSM either, after all, we all know about the great relationships our media owners have with the Government. It really is a sad day when you realise that your own country isn’t as free as it once was, nor should be.
Well said Duncan.
It is a disgrace, and we really should be happy with nothing but first place on this list.
Duncan, do you have any more info on the prospect of vloggers needing to be licensed? I hadn’t heard about that.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/06/036233
for streaming video, but I also recall earlier than this the government talking about licensing online video in the same way as TV stations are licensed: the theory went that both a broadcasters. I cant find a direct link but in this:
http://www.refused-classification.com/internet_06-05to05.htm
there’s Coonan talking about the Government considering licensing online video:
So maybe I jumped the gun a little bit, they were thinking about it, and given all the ho-ha with the recent media changes with any luck they’ve either forgotten about it, or dropped it as an idea altogether (touch wood) 🙂
Hi Sam! Photos i send on e-mail.
Green