this article is interesting. It is from the Human Rights Centre in Melbourne. I note the comment below as particularly in the public interest, as follows:
Promoting press freedom
Another issue receiving media coverage over the last few weeks has been press freedom.
We can’t have public debates about government policies if those policies are kept secret. That’s why it was so alarming when police conducted a raid on journalist Annika Smethurst who had uncovered Peter Dutton’s Department of Home Affairs controversial plans to spy on Australian citizens.
A thriving democracy needs an independent, free and fierce media to keep us informed about important issues and to help keep our politicians honest.
In mid April, the High Court ruled that the police raid on journalist Annika Smethurst was invalid.
I am particularly concerned about ASIO being housed in Home Affairs and located at the peoples Parliament. Given the Snowden revelations about mass surveillance and the clear experimentation of filming through lights, having data passed to intelligence agencies and the recent app to be downloaded to tell people if a person has COVID-19, appears to be about practicing tracking individuals of interest. What if the person is set up and then vilified as a Person of Interest and for people to let them know if this person comes up on the app, not unlike the film The Circle when the heads of a silicon valley type IT company do a world wide search for a felon or lost friend. This gets the world involved in the tracking on the basis of a suggestion, we cannot know if that is accurate or not. It is certainly not a court of law, but trial via authority figures using technology to control the public one way or the other. I have real concerns about the surveillance of civilians and I am using less technology as a result. I will do my best to not use it. I feel the surveillance state (capitalism) is far worse than Communist Russia was, makes them look like Cossacks dancing as a technological comparison (note – no comparison). The Chinese are implementing these technologies with social credit schemes of ‘compliant’ citizens and those who score low (non compliance). This is problematic given those in power may not be ethical, honest or on the payroll of some other power broker. It renders the public unsafe and restricted in their freedoms. That is my concern.
Dear susan,
In responding to the COVID-19 crisis, Australian governments have acted to fill many of the gaps in the services we all rely on.
In education, resources have been devoted to ensure schools can educate remotely, and a number of state governments have provided laptops and other devices to allow students to participate. Pre-school early childhood education has been made free for working parents, and some post-school technical education courses have been provided online for free to boost training.
Our health system now has bulk-billing for tele-health consultations with doctors and some specialists, and there have been funding boosts for hospitals and mental health. Our social safety net has also been strengthened, with a doubling of income support payments and expanded crisis accommodation in some cities to try to ensure every homeless person has somewhere safe to sleep.
These decisions, based on expert advice or advocacy by civil society groups, are welcome. But there are still some gaps, such as for migrant workers and people seeking asylum. These improvements also need to be permanent because there still will be a need for them.
We’re at our best when we ensure that everyone benefits from the services that make our communities flourish. An Australian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms can ensure there is full access and resourcing for health, education, and other services that we all rely on.
As this crisis subsides, the calls for a Charter will escalate so that after the pandemic we can have better services and improved government policy making – all of the time.
Promoting press freedom
Another issue receiving media coverage over the last few weeks has been press freedom.
We can’t have public debates about government policies if those policies are kept secret. That’s why it was so alarming when police conducted a raid on journalist Annika Smethurst who had uncovered Peter Dutton’s Department of Home Affairs controversial plans to spy on Australian citizens.
A thriving democracy needs an independent, free and fierce media to keep us informed about important issues and to help keep our politicians honest.
In mid April, the High Court ruled that the police raid on journalist Annika Smethurst was invalid.
While this is good news, there is an unfortunate sting in the tail – the Court decision was essentially a ruling about a technical police failure to write their own warrant correctly and it doesn’t stop future police raids on journalists reporting in the public interest.
This was followed by another worrying development.
Reporters Without Borders released the annual World Press Freedom Index, which saw Australia drop five positions to 26th place in the world, behind New Zealand, Ireland, Germany and Latvia.
It’s clear that press freedom is not protected well enough in this country. But together, we can push for change.
The journalists’ union MEAA, and the broader Right to Know Alliance, are leading the call for new laws to protect journalists and whistleblowers. These changes to the law are essential and the Human Rights Law Centre and many other other organisations are fully supportive of the calls.
There is another broader change to ensure we all benefit from press freedom – a Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
A right to free expression can ensure that alongside specific laws protecting journalists and whistleblowers there is a broad, enduring right that adapts to changes in technology and processes. It also provides balance should laws in the future be proposed that may restrict press freedom in ways unimaginable today.
Thank you for being part of this campaign. Our commitment to human rights needs to be just as strong in good times and bad, so I’m glad people like you make sure human rights principles aren’t lost in all the noise of political debate.
Thanks again and speak soon,
Daney Faddoul
Campaign Manager, Human Rights Law Centre
Media freedom houses the implied agreement to freedom of speech not only enshrined in Constitutions, but as a birthright. Below I have provided a range of links to articles to awaken awareness to the reasons why freedom of speech underlined by truth is critical for humanity’s development. The last article is the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s critique of Donald Trump. I have just checkout out their board, and I am confident, they are bonifide journalists. So I take on board their critique but remain open to questions in respect of Trump’s critiques.
https://freedom.press/about/board/
The key is to keep an open mind and trust yourself, as you have inner guidance that will show you what is true and what is not. If you are still enough you will recognise a lie spun sprouting great principles as often the wolf comes in sheep’s clothing offering a good but underneath that is another agenda. So stay discerning of information but do not become cynical as the world is full of good intentions and negative and it is the yin/yang of life. It creates the clash of ideas, religions, civilisations and ideologies. This clash shakes up truth, as is its job. In the future there will be inquiries into mass deception and mind control.
This blog is in the public interest.
As you independently research you come to realise how much is not told in the so-called free press. On the other hand there are shining lights in the media who risk life and limb to bring the story to the public’s attention. However, media freedom can be caught up in the propaganda to justify restricting freedom of speech. On the other hand the media have to be accountable for not revealing important information in the public interest. Compounding this issue is the online reality that is being forced on every person on the planet due to the ambitions of Silicon Valley partnering with equity financiers, like the Rothschilds, who have a vested interest in power and control given their lineage. Is this in the public interest to have an IT industry empowered by financiers to maximise profits of world business and at the same time remove privacy given influence in governments? There are also major questions around radiation and biological impacts (e.g. cancer, DNA), depopulation, targeting individuals, restricting information (them and us, type of information), rule by algorithms (filtering news and educational content), mind control (repeated messages), access to iPhones (private conversations), 5G mm waves and health impacts and the loss of felt humanity?
What I have found is when money is NOT involved we have a chance at finding some light in the darkness of vested interest, politics, egoic defence and brand image risk management protection. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is a truism. Money is power in our world (so it is believed) and people will obey when money talks. Yet the real power in this world is love of truth and each other. Community bonds are powerful as well but minimised. Truth is the real gold in our world and it is the real liberator from falsehood and deception. Truth, when accurate, empowers people to make their own decisions. The real leadership is within every person when they decide for themselves. That is what life gave them from birth, the power of self determination. This is inherent within human rights or what I tend to say, the right to be human.
I personally found the Guardian here in Australia a good source and investigative journalists from the ABC. However, the ABC is likely to be sold off by the Liberal Party as a leak revealed at their national conference. I noted that Nine Entertainment now owns The Age. Peter Costello, former Liberal Treasurer is the Chairman of the Board. If that is not a conflict of interest, I don’t know what is! We have Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and subsidiaries owning the majority of the media in key markets across the world. It is evident it has a right wing leaning. As a US citizen he is supportive of US interests not the Australian people. Yet he is the unannounced king maker to whom many make pilgrimages to in order to be validated for power. Where is the media critique and community action around this clear bias.
No-one should have any concentration in the media. They definitely should not have political affiliations or biases as a group. Media must be absolutely clear of bias and constructed in the format of peace journalism, where both sides are shown and questions asked, so the community learns to think for themselves. A profile of Rupert’s empire is as follows:
Peter Costello is the Chairman of Nine Entertainment. The question for the public is, should ex-political figures still aligned with politics be able to have control over media given vested interests?
This story below I just found which features Tim Costello, brother of Peter Costello. Tim and Peter were often at logger heads as he is a priest and Peter, a former Treasurer. One speaking morals the other speaking money. This article talks to the corruption of Crown Casino. I note a little media item where the current Victorian government are looking into this.
I’ve had inspiration around Crown Casino. I note the word ‘Crown’ these days and the shields, symbols that reflect power, I feel the links to established power and endorsement. Interestingly, I interviewed Edward de Bono (famous Lateral Thinking expert) at the hotel at Crown. He was quick to say to me he wasn’t at the Casino, just staying at the hotel. Back then I had no idea, I am slowly waking up now.
This article highlights why media freedom is essential and the importance of reporting on corruption as the public outcry does have power and is heard, alone we are ignored. The public has to find the truth if they want to be empowered to create change in its image not other’s with vested interests. This grows more important as our ecology collapses reminding us of our own imbalance. It is true that knowledge with wisdom empowers. Here is the article on the Crown Casino: https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/the-troubled-birth-of-crown-casino-we-were-warned-20190808-p52fa1.html
The links below will definitely not appear in the mainstream media. This provides insights into the different styles of reporting. Independent reporting is revealing what has been hidden by information control in the mainstream media. However, the internet freedom (whilst we still have it) is essential to being out the truth so that people can make balanced decisions, given their money is spent in ways they have no idea about. Those in positions of power must be held to account and those orchestrating false information must be tried. Deception, PR spin, falsifying media items (video, written) in order to influence public opinion undermines democratic principles and freedoms (real freedom). The purpose of democracy is underlined by the implied ‘We the People’ and it is to represent not enslave the world community. I recall giving my poem ‘We the People’ to Kristine Keneally (shadow Minister Home Affairs). Later that day I recall her saying there would never be a Charter of Rights for the people. That is etched into my mind. MP Andrew Wilkie tried to pass a Bill of Rights for Australians on 24 March 2020. This was not passed. Questions should be asked. Rights arise when values decline this is why democracy (in its true sense) is under threat with increasing secrecy, non disclosure, changes to discrimination laws, weakening of regulators, costly legal action and most notably media ownership – buying up the press by those seeking to ‘shape’ views rather than respecting diversity and allowing the publics differences to shape the future on the basis of debate, informed discussion, critiques and real needs in order to understand what is true and what is not and what is needed and what is not. As public money is channeled in the direction of influence not the greatest need. Critical thinking is essential if people are to be led out of the infotainment, electronic addictions, distractors and mainlining cultivated information to fulfil the needs of specific economic and financial interests.
It is real freedom from fear that enables discernment. I turn off the television, I don’t listen much to radio and I inform myself using instinct, intuition, intellect, feeling and the love of truth to guide my words and actions. My only interest is peace as harmony. I dreamed I was teaching peace and this changed my life from a market analyst to peace maker. I was a community journalist in public radio for a few years. I was seeking to find my voice and allow other voices to be heard. Surveillance happened after I aired Scott Ritter (senior weapons inspector, Iraq) and Major Douglas Rokke (depleted uranium expert, Pentagon). I had no knowledge of the murky, smoke and dagger world of intelligence. Today I have become wiser.
Peace will only arise from inner peace which resolves inner conflict (untruth) as realisation (ah ha) informs as the real shape changer. This is how personal growth happens, you awaken bit by bit to the truth of what is really going on. You cannot go back to the uninformed unconscious life that just believes what it hears, reads and sees. I no longer believe in most of it. I am disillusioned but in a good way. I refer to my life similar to the ‘philosophers stone’ where questions open pathways to truth, intent is important. As I reach for truth I find myself changing as I grow in awareness. I am open to being wrong, but ultimately I have felt the awakening and I come into a feeling of ‘knowing’. This knowing is ‘I know I don’t know’ which opens my mind. It is the real wisdom, which is no about knowing it all but awakening to the illusion of it. Below is further links I found by following a gentle search for truth.
This excerpt is from an article I believe is in the public interest and is the basis of control in our world. I remember Fiona Barnett saying once paedophilia is solved and those involved brought to justice much of the evils of our world will disappear. I felt truth in that. However, having said that by all means you critique the article and find your own truth, as I believe we all have to work it out ourselves. This article provides an insight as a contrast to the mainstream media. You would never find this article on the front page of a popular newspaper. I present it with a noteworthy quote which awakens to the underbelly of power:
“The ‘mass hysteria’ and ‘false memory’ bromides disseminated by the establishment press obscure federal and academic connections to the mind control cults, which are defended largely by organized pedophiles, cultists and hired guns of psychiatry.”
I suspect this is the main driver of misinformation embedded in the intelligence community. I have concerns about Home Affairs or Homeland Security, the latter called ‘shadow government’ by former CIA Kevin Shipp. When intelligence is blended with an internal intelligence capability it raises real concerns about false flag operations, fake stunts to cause terror, holographic imagery and the very real concern of cults in positions of power. The Bush Administration is a case in point and the links to the Skull and Bones, KKK and CIA Whistleblower assertions of 911 as a CIA operation It further raises questions about COVID-19.
There has to be critical thinking. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the Trump narrative but I do think there is truth in what he is saying. It is not for the media to get defensive at the critiques but investigate as intelligence merges with the media as part of information control (counter=terrorism techniques).
Whistleblowers are coming out and revealing what the mainstream media is not revealing. For example ex CIA whistleblower:
Montgomery maintains that the data on the hard drives prove the existence of THE HAMMER and prove that Brennan and Clapper engaged in illegal domestic surveillance, despite the existence of safeguards that were already in place.
The last article is from Freedom of the Press Foundation online. It is a critique of Trump. However, I see some truth in his tweets. He is definitely taking on the established media and those infiltrated by vested interests. Yes he is crass, yes a misogynist, yes a deal maker, ball breaker, but interestingly, he is taking on the power elites. Why? he is not in the club. He doesn’t give a toss what anyone thinks, he plays by his own rules. He is a leader as he makes his own decisions. Yet there would still be room for critique with him in that he hasn’t revealed the whole truth, yet he is leaking out questions, particularly about COVID-19. The question is are people giving thought to what is the truth of COVID-19?
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to upend daily life, President Donald Trump accelerated smearing the press on Twitter, reaching 2,000 negative tweets about the media in a string of insults and accusations on April 11, 2020.
According to our analysis of more than 19,400 of Trump’s tweets, 2,000 means that he has, on average, tweeted negatively about the press more than once a day for the past 4 ½ years. While the president’s rate of tweeting about the media has varied over those years, a noticeable uptick occurred as the severity of the new coronavirus progressed throughout the United States, and his administration’s handling of the global health crisis came under increasedcriticism.
The 2,000th tweet came on a Saturday, as part of a series of posted and deleted tweets, criticizing the coverage of no fewer than five outlets and accusing most of bias, if not outright corruption. The 2,000th tweet:
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker maintains a searchable database tracking Twitter posts in which Trump mentions media, individual journalists or news outlets in a negative tone since he declared his candidacy in June 2015.
In January, we wrote that Trump’s anti-press tweeting had begun ramping up last year around his official reelection campaign launch, and that he was following the same “playbook” of attacking the press on Twitter that he used during his first campaign. Those Twitter mentions, however, dropped dramatically after the impeachment inquiry began in September 2019 and stayed relatively low through the end of the year.
As concerns about the new coronavirus took hold in the U.S. in early 2020, Trump’s negative media tweet rate began accelerating to a pace not seen in the previous 5 months. It rose from 5.6% of his overall tweets in January to 11.2% in March. During the week of March 23 — when the U.S. began to lead the world in confirmed cases — Trump criticized the news media in nearly one in every five tweets.
The Nation’s First Virus Death, and an ‘Enemy of the People’ Tweet
On March 1, Trump referred to a sweeping number of print and broadcast news outlets as “The Enemy of the People,” a term he first used shortly after taking office but which had seen less use in the previous six months.
The tweet came one day after the U.S. recorded its first coronavirus death, that of a Washington state man in his 50s.
The Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC, ABC, CBS News and more, he tweeted, “headed” the “Fake News Media” and were a source of national disgust and embarrassment.
Over the course of the month, Trump tweeted a total of 447 times. Of those, 50 tweets used a negative tone about the press — nearly the same amount as in January and February combined.
Trump’s anti-press tweets predominantly focused on the media’s coverage of the pandemic and his administration’s response. Trump repeatedly condemned the use of unnamed sources, alleged that the media was deliberately dramatizing the outbreak to hurt the economy and his reelection chances, and asserted that outlets should unite with him in the face of the crisis, rather than continue covering the outbreak and response critically.
Of the 50 tweets, half targeted the media as a whole, with terms like “Enemy of the People” and “LameStream Media,” and descriptions of the media as “corrupt,” “dishonest” and “hopeless.”
Twenty tweets targeted specific news outlets, with MSNBC and the Times attacked the most often, and used demeaning “nicknames” like “MSDNC” and “DeFace the Nation.” Five individual journalists — representing four outlets — were also targeted by name.
Rachel Maddow and Joe Scarborough of MSNBC, Chuck Todd of NBC, Maggie Haberman of the Times and Chris Cuomo of CNN, all familiar targets of the president on Twitter, were each singled out. Cuomo announced he tested positive for the coronavirus on March 31.
During his fourth year in office, 14.2% of Trump’s negative tweets about the media have targeted individuals, questioning their legitimacy, ethics and objectivity, as well as insulting their physical appearance or demeanor and assigning them demeaning nicknames.
By comparison, he targeted individual journalists in only 7.5% of tweets in his first year in office and 8.6% of tweets in his second year.
Press Briefings Return: In-Person Insults Mirror Those on Twitter
On Feb. 26, the same day White House press briefings resumed after a more than year-long hiatus, the president tweeted, “Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus [sic] look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible.”
Trump tweeted multiple assertions that the media was continuing in its “war” against him in spite of the virus, and that the press briefings — this time with Trump leading them instead of a press secretary — were “reaching millions of people that are not being told the truth.”
The president targeted ABC via tweet four times in 2020 — all in March and April — including calling the outlet an “Enemy of the People” and “Fake News.”
In the briefing room, the attacks on journalists were personal. When ABC’s Chief White House Correspondent, Jonathan Karl, asked during an April 6 briefing about a report from the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general, Trump quipped, “You’re a third-rate reporter.” Karl is also the president of the White House Correspondents Association.
Trump had used the same insult in a tweet targeting the Times’ Maggie Haberman on March 27, as well as in reference to Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman on March 11, though the president didn’t name him.
When PBS NewsHour reporter Yamiche Alcindor asked during a March 29 COVID-19 briefing about the president refuting governors’ needs for equipment, he replied that her question was “snarky” and her approach always “getcha, getcha, getcha.”
On April 5, Trump targeted Alcindor on Twitter, writing that she was “a very biased journalist.”
President Donald Trump takes questions during an April 6 coronavirus task force briefing at the White House with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Vice President Mike Pence. In this briefing, Trump responded to a question by ABC’s Jonathan Karl, in the second row of seats on the far right, by calling him a ‘third-rate reporter,’ an insult he also uses on Twitter.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The 2000th Tweet: A Milestone of Attacking the Press
Through early April, Trump and the Coronavirus Task Force held press briefings almost every day, and by April 11, Trump had insulted or denigrated the press in nearly one in six of his tweets.
On Twitter, Trump referred to CNN as “a JOKE!,” the Wall Street Journal as “Fake News!” and singled out the Post and the Times, asserting that advertising is “WAY down” either because they are “Fake News” or because “the Virus is just plain beating them up.”
On April 11, as Trump posted his 2,000th negative tweet about the media, the U.S. led the world in confirmed COVID-19 deaths, surpassing 20,000.
Trump posted a burst of eight tweets that day, a single-day amount not reached since September 2019.
All but one of the tweets targeted specific outlets. The president repeated his refrains about “MSDNC,” the “failing” Times and the “Amazon” Post, and criticized the Journal’s Editorial Board. Trump also disparaged Fox News, tweeting that watching it on weekend afternoons is “a total waste of time.” The tweet followed a report about equipment shortages at the Department of Veterans Affairs and coronavirus-related veteran deaths.
Three of the tweets targeting the Times were nearly identical, with the first two posted and deleted within minutes of each other. The third, which was the milestone-reaching tweet, was posted two hours later. In it, the president called the Times “Fake News,” “Failing,” and questioned its use of anonymous sources in an article linking New York coronavirus cases to Europe, not China.
The day’s string of tweets struck on multiple recent themes, with the president criticizing coverage of the pandemic and implying corruption in the newsroom.
Trump also delegitimized the standard news practice of granting sources anonymity, asserting on Twitter that anonymous sources are fabricated in order to hurt his administration. Nearly one in four of his anti-press tweets in early April — and one in ten in March — denigrated the media’s use of unnamed sources.
Undermining Coverage in a Time of Crisis
Language eroding public trust in the news media, while a hallmark of the president’s administration, has increased on Twitter in tandem with the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. and criticism of the government’s handling of it.
Trump complained about media bias in a majority of his 2,000 negative tweets, accusing the media of conspiring against him and refuting the accuracy of their reports.
From the first confirmed U.S. coronavirus case on Jan. 20, through reaching the milestone tweet on April 11, Trump tweeted negatively about the media 113 times. In those 83 days, at a time when the public increasingly sought news from established outlets, Trump intensified his criticism of individual reporters and the media’s coverage.
Explore the database
As the president continues to communicate through Twitter, The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker continues to track the rhetoric usingthis live database.
Government agencies from the local to federal level are failing to live up to their legal transparency obligations even as the stakes for access to relevant information are at an all-time high.
I have had the experience where I am not regarded as equal and my treatment varied.
I have had democratic rights like the right to a fair hearing subverted.
I have not been able to access advocacy or parity due to not having income and the defunding of public advocates.
I have experienced misogyny which proscribed a mindset that females are biologically fixed and equality was not desirable.
I have experienced inequality before the law, deception from lawyers and a biased Judge.
I have experienced ineffective regulators either refusing to take a complaint or finding a loop hole to indicate they cannot pursue the matter. Appointment of regulators must not be by a government as there is a risk of politicisation or picking persons who are not impartial.
I have experienced legislative technicalities used to prevent access to superannuation under severe hardship. It was evident that if one was not officially recognised (no matter the poverty) they are not given access to the same rules as those complying.
I have witnessed corruption and rorting and a disregard for the most vulnerable who are not given full information, forced to sign contracts and thus negating Constitutional rights.
I am particularly concerned for the most vulnerable people who do not have an education to understand what is being done, no awareness of basic rights or fair treatment or are beaten down by the violence and discrimination inherent in the system. They lose hope and give up. Those in severe poverty or homeless are in weakened positions, suffering intensely and cannot defend themselves or gain substantive support for their plights. Basic services may be there but there is a lack of empathy and respect at the lower socio-economic levels.
A Bill of Rights is essential to ensure the health and safety of civilians.
https://charterofrights.org.au/charter-of-rights
Creating an Australian Charter of Human Rights & Freedoms will benefit the whole community.
It will help prevent human rights violations, provide a powerful tool for challenging injustices and foster a culture of understanding and respecting human rights.
That’s why we’re pushing the Australian Government to create a Charter of Human Rights and we need your help!
A Charter of Human Rights will do two Key things:
01
Governments must consider people’s human rights when creating new laws and policies and also when delivering services – like aged care, Medicare, disability services, and education funding.
02
People can take action and seek justice if their rights are violated.
Ideally we’d like to see all of our human rights protected in the Australian Constitution, but even without a referendum, the Australian Parliament can still introduce a Charter of Human Rights at any time.
This means if we join forces to show our politicians that communities all over the country want values like fairness, compassion and equality properly protected, then we can transform Australia’s human rights landscape – we can give people the power to take action when their human rights are violated.
The Human Rights Law Centre is currently writing an Australian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities that would protect in law all of the fundamental human rights set out in the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
