Media raids ‘freaked out’ whistleblowers

WHISTLEBLOWERS “freaked out” after the Australian Federal Police raided media organisations, sparking fears their “chilling effect” would stop serious scandals being exposed in the future.

Media bosses have described the “huge anxiety” among whistleblowers following the raids on News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst and the ABC’s Sydney headquarters in June. They yesterday appeared before the first hearing of a parliamentary inquiry into press freedoms.

Michael Miller, chairman of News Corp Australasia, which publishes the Mercury, outlined the impact on journalism of laws passed under the guise of national security, saying: “We may not be living in a police state, but we are living in a state of secrecy.”

He argued the laws had been “rushed” and that urgent reforms necessary to protect whistleblowers and journalists would not put them above the law.

“Doctor-patient and lawyer-client privilege is not above the law,” he said. “Parliamentary privilege ... is not above the law. The ... changes that we are seeking will put a stop to the creeping secrecy that shrouds Canberra.”

Executives from the Australia’s Right to Know coalition, including News Corp, the ABC, Nine, FreeTV, the MEAA and Commercial Radio Australia, said real media organisations were not reckless like Julian Assange and Wikileaks officials when it came to publishing material that could impact national security.

When the ABC received two filing cabinets full of classified government documents that had been sold at a secondhand shop in Canberra, it published three stories then worked with spy agency ASIO to return the documents to government, ABC managing director David Anderson said.

He argued media organisations conducted due diligence and published “with responsibility” after assessing both the public interest and national security. Australia’s Right to Know coalition has called for law reforms to boost protections for journalists and whistleblowers, as well as the right to contest warrants for raids on journalists and media organisations and a new regime that limits which documents can be considered confidential. It has also called for a “properly functioning” Freedom of Inform regime and reforms to current defamation laws. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton last week issued a directive to the AFP to consider press freedom before it conducted any investigations on journalists in the future.

The inquiry is due to report to Parliament by October 17.