Threats to Australian Press Freedom and Civil Liberties last week : Melbourne Indymedia

I’m concerned about two threats to Australian press freedom, leading up to the biggest politics story of the week on Kevin Rudd and press freedom.

The lead-in is the press freedom aspect of the Alan Jones monstering by ACMA. Commentators, other than the anti-Howard crowd, have correctly called it as an ACMA lynching attempt without basis.

The people howling about sedition last year – remember all the concerts about freedom of the press – now have no problem with arguing for reduction of free speech or, more particularly, attacking Jones for providing free speech.

This has nothing to do with Jones’ power and I’m absolutely no apologist for cash for comment. But I’ll fight for freedom and against lynch mobs.

This leads into press freedom and the fact that Kevin Rudd now has two legs of a hat trick for aggressive media handling and bullying, leaving aside the dishonesty and tendency to falsehood.

You recall the SMH running a good investigative story on Rudd’s false remembered history, and then getting attacked aggressively by Rudd personally, his media minders etc., to the extent that Alan Ramsey did a forensic analysis of it. Rudd’s Stasi managed to get the Melbourne Age and their Canberra bureau to roll over for Rudd (hmm, who are those journalists?)

And now the Sunrise False Dawn Service has led to a MAJOR PRESS FREEDOM STORY. It has:

- a paper running a scoop about the attempted fraud – the Tele in Sydney

- Rudd getting up and doing the ‘incandescent with rage’ shtick in public and also in private bullying the paper

- And then the evidence which proves that Rudd media minders were lying, at minimum.

It’s the media story of the week, lying politicians, media under pressure – rather like what

- Vladimir Putin’s doing in Moscow

- Mugabe in Zimbabwe and

- for that matter like China (perhaps Rudd's formative period there was too formative in terms of media management)..

What’s next for Vladimir Rudd or if he becomes PM? Squads of goons to ‘manage’ media who publish unflattering or problematical stories?

Christian Kerr had it in one in Crikey on Friday, here

http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20070413-It-dawns-on-Rudd-the-Sgt-Schultz-defence-can-be-handy.html

“A change of government is a great story, but surely close proximity to Rudd over the years has taught them a thing or two.

"The Canberra Press Gallery has a good idea of what a maniacal, dictatorial bully he really is," an informed source tells Crikey. "The Public Service is already quaking in its boots at the thought of him becoming PM."

"Who cares, you say, as long as he gets the job done? Only it is important to understand the motivation and character of our politicians before we entrust them to the leadership of our country - just look at Mark Latham. This is especially so when they espouse Christian virtues, act like goody twoshoes and have glass jaws."

"Howard is a clever manipulator, which much of the electorate took a long time to realise. This might not have been the case had the media been willing to be more critical and not just a tool for powerful politicians to use. When will the media be willing to break this conspiracy of silence for the greater good?":”

I reckon we need a concert, run by the people who did the Sedition concerts last year, to support press freedom.

I'm also writing to the Civil Liberties people and PEN.