See @ConversationEDU for @journlaw’s five reasons the Australian #natsec laws damage media freedom

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By MARK PEARSONFollow @Journlaw

The Abbott government’s latest tranches of national security and counter-terrorism laws represent the greatest attack on the Fourth Estate function of journalism in the modern era. They are worse than the Gillard government’s failed attempts to regulate the press.

Unlike most other Western democracies, Australia has no constitutional instrument protecting free expression as a human right. Few politicians can resist the temptation to control the flow of information if the law permits.

Here are five reasons that this latest move is damaging the democratic cornerstone of press freedom:

1. It is legislative over-reach
2. It gags reportage of a key public issue
3. It compromises the separation of powers
4. It spells the end for the confidential source
5. Exemptions effectively license old media over new media.

See The Conversation today for the full article.

Wondering why terrorism laws wreck media freedom and democracy? Here are five reasons. https://t.co/udH10kymoO

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