Sydney (AFP)
All the Unes of the Australian press were redacted Monday morning in protest against the decline of press freedom and the culture of secrecy within the government.
The front page and articles on the front page of national and regional newspapers, including such prestigious titles as The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review, were covered in black ink.
Advertisements were also broadcast on all television channels, inviting viewers to reflect on the question: "When the government hides the truth from you, what is it hiding from you?"
The campaign for the right to information came after federal police raids a few months ago at the national ABC channel and the home of a News Corp reporter who had published two embarrassing news for the government.
The Australian media is demanding that journalists not be subject to very strict national security legislation, which they say complicates their work.
"The culture of secrecy that flows from these legal provisions restricts the right of every Australian to be informed and goes well beyond the original intention of preserving national security," said Paul Murphy, chief Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance syndicate.
"News Corp's journalist Annika Smethurst's home police operations and ABC headquarters in Sydney are attacks on press freedom in Australia, but they are just the tip of the iceberg." according to Murphy.
As a result of these searches, three journalists could be the subject of criminal prosecution: Ms. Smethurst for revealing that the government was planning to spy on Australians, and two journalists of ABC for denouncing war crimes allegedly committed by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan.
Australian media groups are also calling for better protection of whistleblowers and the freedom to inform, and a reform of the complex and some of the most stringent defamation laws in the world.
Unlike most democracies, Australia does not have a bill of rights or constitutional protection of freedom of expression.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government would "still believe in freedom of the press," while insisting that journalists are not above the law.
© 2019 AFP