General Press Release No. 258 (August 2003)

A new threat to press freedom

The Australian Press Council views with concern any moves by the federal Minister for Communications to establish a new government-appointed body to deal with complaints about the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The Council, the self-regulatory body overseeing the freedom and responsibility of the Australian print media has recently adopted Charter for a Free Press in Australia one principle of which reads:

Laws, regulations and practices which in any way restrict or inhibit the right of the press freely to gather and distribute news, views and information are unacceptable unless it can be shown that the public interest is better served by such laws, regulations or practices than the public interest in the people's right to know.

The Council believes that the Minister's action raises the possibility of further government restrictions on the ability of the media freely to report matters of public interest and concern.

There are already regulatory and self-regulatory ways of redressing concerns with the content of ABC programs giving the Minister two options if he is dissatisfied with the report of the internal review of his complaints. He can take the matter to the ABC's Independent Complaints Review Panel or to the Australian Broadcasting Authority, the regulatory body established by statute to deal with concerns where a broadcaster has failed, in the view of a complainant, adequately to deal with a matter.

In the Council's view, the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal supervening the established complaints systems is both unnecessary and may cause the public to believe that the government wants to interfere in the editorial processes of media organizations and, thus, limit the public's right to receive information of interest and concern to it.

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