Freedom of the Press

Having been motivated by the activities of Medecins Sans Frontieres I wanted to know if there was something similar that had been set up for Journalists and of course there is!

Reporters sans Frontieres

I started to read the documentation and some of the stories from around the world and was actually quite taken by all the campaigns that are happening to ensure that you and I are able to obtain access to news that is not necessarily stifled by regimes that oppose free communications and I was also quite taken by the campaigns that listed the number of journalists who had been thrown in gaol by one government or another.

Then in a fit of curiosity I opened the page relating to Australia. Here is what I found:

Area: 7,741,220 sq. km.
Population: 20,200,000.
Language: English.
Head of government: John Howard.

The John Howard government has continued to beef up its arsenal of anti-terror laws, some of which represent a threat to journalists’ capacity to protect their sources of information and to freedom of expression.

I am afraid it was at this point that I started to doubt - if not the sincerity, then certainly the value of the people who were doing the reporting for this site.

In the first place one of the main values of NEWS is that it is in fact NEWS and not yesterday's headlines in which you usually wrap fish heads!

Australia passed the 21 million mark for its population some time ago and the government changed well over a week ago. As for accuracy - one fact that has been pretty constant for quite a few years is the actual size of the country which is really 7617930km squared

I am amazed that any group that wishes to have some credibility in the world of journalism does not check facts and does not appear to update its site with an appropriate apology for what to me seems at best laziness and at worst careless negligence with the truth!

So the question for me at least is this - given the lack of accuracy about the data that I actually know something about and can easily check with reliable sources what reliance can I place on any of the other material that can be found on the site of these campaigners for press freedom?

I am afraid I have no idea and Yes I have written to them along the following lines:

"Hi,

I started off being impressed with your site and then in a fit of curiosity I explored your web page about the situation in Australia.

If you can't get the size of the country right, can't get the size of the population right and don't actually keep up with the reality that the government changed at least a week ago then I am afraid that reliance on your reporting about other matters tends to lose credibility!

It's a shame really - I was hoping to find a place where I could rely on some unvarnished facts!

Hope you will treat these comments in the way in which journalists should react - by hanging your heads in shame, issuing an apology for the outdated and inaccurate reportage and then correcting the offending page! "

After all one of the freedoms of the press is to be able to write to the editor and tell him/her what you think of the content of the publication!