Raids by the AFP on Australian journalists should concern everyone who cares about independent media This article was originally published in the Daily Telegraph. If ever there was a demonstration of the need for a Media Freedom Act, this is it. The heavy-handed raids this week set a shocking benchmark for diminished press freedom in Australia. It is long since…
In response to the raid of Annika Smethurst’s home by the AFP, Chris Flynn, legal spokesperson of the AJF (and Partner at Gilbert + Tobin) can be quoted as follows: “News of the AFP’s raid of Annika Smethurst’s home, mobile phone and computer is deeply concerning to the AJF, and should be to all Australians. In any democracy, journalism that covers…
In response to Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s release from prison in Myanmar on the 7th of May, The Economist shared a salient piece on why the government’s decision to release them, after more than 500 days in prison, is not a sign that attitudes to press freedom are improving in Myanmar. Their release is undoubtedly wonderful…
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ Director Joel Simon has written a piece for the Columbia Journalism Review that raises an important and very necessary distinction in the global conversation on press freedom. Published on World Press Freedom Day, Simon discusses the difference between celebrating good journalism and working to protect journalists & press freedom. Both are important, but we can…
This year, on World Press Freedom Day (03 May), TIME have released a list of the 10 most urgent cases of press freedom around the world. View the list here. The AJF would add Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler in the Philippines, to that list. The AJF is working for media freedom in the Asia-Pacific, so for us–alongside Wa-Lone and…
The Committee to Protect Journalists marks International Women’s Day by highlighting the cases of female journalists jailed around the world for doing their jobs. Here are a few of the facts: According to CPJ’s recent census, 32 of the 251 journalists currently in jail are women In the Asia-Pacific region, 6 women are imprisoned in China and 2 in Vietnam…
In a scene right out of a thriller, agents from the Filipino National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided journalist and editor Maria Ressa’s Manila office at 5pm on Wednesday February 13, after most courts had closed. They took her from the Rappler newsroom where she is editor, to a police watch house and threw her in a cell. Ressa’s lawyer…
Journalism freedom fighter Professor Peter Greste is spearheading a unique research collaboration to protect media independence, the role of the media in democracy, and the safety of journalists. The University of Queensland and the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom (AJF) have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on research projects about many aspects of media freedom. Professor Greste, who is also…
