Journalism in Australia

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Journalism in Australia varies from international standards in areas as diverse as legal freedoms and editorial practices.

1 History
2 Legal Protection
- 2.1 Implied Freedom
- 2.2 Lange v ABC
3 Major Stories
4 Education
5 Australian Journalists
6 References
7 See also

[edit] History

The front page of the Sydney Gazette.

Most of the published material in the first twenty years of the New South Wales colony was to inform residents of the rules and laws on the time. These were printed with a portable wooden and iron printing press. Since half of the convicts of the time were not able to read, it was compulsory for these notices to be read at Sunday church services. ^[1]

On the November 22, 1800 George Howe arrived in Australia. George "Happy" was born in the West Indies, although his father had been a native of Ireland. ^[2] In London George had worked in the print industry for several newspapers including The Times but sent to New South Wales after being charged with shoplifting, a crime which was also punishable by hanging.

In March 1803 Howe started production on Australia's first newspaper, the Sydney Gazette. While being filled much with government notices, there was an abundance of news to report in the burgeoning colony. An extract from the paper about the first Koala to be captured told of the "graveness of the visage", which "would seem to indicate a more than ordinary portion of animal sagacity". ^[3]

One newsgathering technique Howe used for local content was to hang a 'slip box' outside the store where the Gazette was published to let the public suggest stories. International news arriving via sea was printed usually ten to fourteen weeks out-of-date.

The Sydney Gazette was the only paper published until 1824 when William Charles Wentworth began publishing the colony's first privately owned newspaper, The Australian (no connection with the current paper The Australian, which was established by Rupert Murdoch in 1964). ^[4]

The Australian Journalist's Association (AJA) was formed in 1910 and registered federally in 1911. ^[5] The AJA was amalgamated in 1992 into the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. ^[6]

The University of Queensland became the first Australian institution to offer a diploma of journalism in 1921. ^[7]

In 1956, Ampol Petroleum founder Sir William Gaston Walkley established Australia's most prestigious Journalism Awards, the Walkleys. ^[8]

On October 16, 1975, five Australian journalists, now known as the Balibo Five, reporting on the invasion of East Timor (then Portuguese Timor) by Indonesia were murdered at a house in Balibo. The journalists, from both the Nine Network and the Seven Network, were killed by Indonesian soldiers after recording footage which proved Indonesia was behind the conflict, as opposed to the claim it was an internal Timorese coup. ^[9]

Paul Moran, an ABC cameraman from Adelaide becomes the first Australian journalist to die while covering the Iraq war in March 2003. He was killed while working when a car bomb near him exploded. ^[10]

[edit] Legal Protection

Australian journalists are more vulnerable to defamation action than their American and international counterparts. Australia lacks both a bill of rights and any specific or explicit rights to freedom of speech in the Australian constitution. ^[11]

[edit] Implied Freedom

In 1992 the High Court of Australia saw the case of Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd v Commonwealth, concerning a decision the previous year which inserted Part IIID into the Broadcasting Act 1942. The resulting regulations banned political advertising during Federal, State or Local elections. There was some free time provided for political messages, but 90% of this was allocated to parties in the previous government. A majority decision found in favour of Australian Capital Television, ruling there was an implied right to free speech in the constitution.

“

the system of representative government created by the Constitution, or at least the text of sections 7 and 24, necessarily requires for its efficacy that the Australian people are able to discuss freely matters relating to Australian government.^[12]

”

The 5-3 decision of the Theophanous v Herald and Weekly Times Ltd case two years later enforced the previous ruling to the extent of validating the constitution's implied freedom of speech as a defamation defense, ^[12] however this would not last.

[edit] Lange v ABC

In 1997 the High Court heard the case of former New Zealand Prime Minister Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation on the rulings of the Theophanous and Stephens v West Australian Newspapers. "While the judges unanimously confirmed the existence of an implied constitutional freedom of political speech, they did not cite it as a defense against defamation action by politicians."^[13]

Since Australian law does not currently accept the implied freedoms as a defamation defense, Australian journalists facing slander or libel must use common law defense. This involves the defendant proving that they:^[13]

did not believe defamatory imputations were true
undertook reasonable steps to confirm the accuracy of defamatory information
had reasonable grounds for a belief that defamatory imputations were true
included a response from the defamed person, except where this was seen as not practical or was unnecessary

[edit] Major Stories

There have been many international stories broken by Australian journalists.

In October 2005, Dateline (SBS) photojournalist Stephen DuPont made international headlines with a controversial report showing American troops in Afghanistan burning the bodies of Taliban fighters and using the remains for propaganda purposes. ^[14]

[edit] Education

Many Australian universities provide journalism and communication courses. The majority of new Australian journalists have a tertiary education in the field. In 2000, seven of eight cadetships given by the Age were given to those with a journalism degree. ^[13]

[edit] Australian Journalists

This is a partial list of prominent Australian Journalists. Although they work and have experience across a range of mediums, they are listed under the one they are best known for: