Fighting for your right to know
Whistleblowers, Freedom of Information and threats to democracy: Yvonne Ardley reports on a recent discussion on press freedom between leading Australian journalists.
The second session at the Walkley Foundation’s Shining the Light on Truth festival in Perth was on the subject of Press Freedom and Investigative Journalism.
Panellists included the two-time Gold Walkley-winning presenter of The Teacher’s Pet podcast, Hedley Thomas; 2019 Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year, Oliver Gordon; and Seven News FOI editor, Alison Sandy.
The Your Right to Know campaign was at the heart of this discussion, with all panellists expressing the need for reform of the archaic processes currently in place which make journalism exhausting, limited and even dangerous.
Hedley Thomas eloquently summarised this, saying:
“Your right to the information that journalists are trying to deliver, is being eroded by the kinds of oppressive tools that are being utilised, with raids on journalist’s homes, raids on workplaces, tightening of laws and so on.”
The Your Right to know campaign was formed by a coalition of Australia’s major media companies, to increase media freedom in Australia. A crucial necessity for Australia’s future as a well-functioning democracy, as pointed out by the panel.
Alison Sandy is the nation’s first female Freedom Of Information (FOI) editor. Last year she submitted almost 800 FOI applications.
“It’s important to see how FOI has changed from when I started 20 years ago to now. And I can say it’s getting a lot worse and certainly the older the legislation, the worse it is,” she said.
Sandy explained how the difficult-to-navigate laws are old and outdated, unchanged since 1982
“You can just imagine how the world has changed since 1982, the amount of documents that are available now, the types of documents that are available now,” she said.
“Probably the worst thing about it.. is how good public servants are at exploiting the loopholes in that legislation after having almost 40 years to perfect it. If you look at any country in the world and press freedom in that country, it correlates directly with personal freedoms.”
Thomas pointed out that requesting FOI has become almost impossible for journalists and the public.
“It’s too hard, the delays are too long. And when the feedback from the department requires us to spend a very significant amount of our employers’ money to receive the documents that should ordinarily be provided for very little charge. It’s a big disincentive,” he said.
2019 Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year and ABC Alice Springs reporter, Oliver Gordon, hasn’t worked with FOI yet.
“In the newsrooms I’ve been in at this point in my career, the idea of lodging a Freedom of Interest Request hasn’t been something that’s been immediately canvassed as an option.”
Another subject on the agenda of the talk was that of whistleblowers and the dangers they face when speaking out.
Gordon pointed out that whistleblowers generally go to the media as a last resort. But, he said, most people don’t realise how dangerous speaking out can be in the current legal and political climate.
“Word can spread around quite quickly as to who the whistleblower is,” he said. “If anything, it’s going to amplify or possibly even make your problem worse.”
Gordon said it’s important to explain to whistleblowers the potential consequences of speaking out.
“In terms of protecting my whistleblowers, it’s just about being upfront about what it is that journalists do.”
Thomas noted that the government wants to send a message by making an example of whistleblowers, coming down on them with harsh penalties, as a disincentive for future leaks.
“To all future potential possible whistle blowers, this is what can happen. If you step out of line, if you leak something that is potentially embarrassing to our minister or our department secretary, or our commissioner, there’ll be a raid and the journalist’s sources will be revealed,” he said.
“I think Australians, unfortunately, we don’t get angry enough about this kind of campaign by government.”
Gordon went on to speak about the raids on journalists earlier this year, which he said resulted in a number of stories not being published by the ABC.
“We’re already starting to see some of those stories that might have come to light, not come to light.”
To find out more about Your Right to Know Campaign, click here.
The Shining A Light Newsroom was supported by Edith Cowan University. See the full Shining A Light Newsroom coverage here.
