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Kerry O'Brien uses Walkey Awards speech to rally journalists, saying press 'freedom is eroded gradually'

"Australia’s Media Raids and the Decline of Press Freedom Worldwide"

Kerry O'Brien is a long-term good guy, and agree or not with his description of Assange as simply a journalist all should understand that, in all
good conscience, the Australian government should be doing everything in it's power to get Assange back to Australia. He is an Australian citizen.

Updated 28 minutes ago

Video: Kerry O'Brien used his speech to urge the government to bring Julian Assange back to Australia (ABC News)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-29/o%E2%80%99brien-calls-for-the-government-to-bring-assange-to-australia/11748942

Former 7.30 host Kerry O'Brien has called for journalists to unite to protect press freedoms in a powerful opening speech for the Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism.

Key points:

* O'Brien warned about the dangers of restricted press, saying it could lead to fascism

* He said journalists need to call out any abuses of power

* O'Brien also called on the Government to work to bring Julian Assange back to Australia

O'Brien, the Walkley Foundation chair, addressed the crowd of journalists and media professionals on Thursday night, harking back to the Journalism Is Not a Crime campaign in June.

"This year, for a brief moment in the history of Australian journalism, every significant news organisation in this country put its competitive instincts and its differences to one side and united as one voice to stand against an unacceptable step down the road to authoritarianism," he said.

"Authoritarianism unchecked can lead to fascism.

"Fortunately in this country, we're a long way from that yet, but a study of history amply demonstrates how fascism begins.

"Freedom is usually eroded gradually.

"It might happen over years, even decades.

"Its loss is not necessarily felt day by day, but
we will certainly know when it's gone."

The Journalism Is Not a Crime campaign came about after Australian Federal Police (AFP) raided ABC's Sydney headquarters .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-05/abc-raided-by-australian-federal-police-afghan-files-stories/11181162 .. and the home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-04/afp-raid-news-corp-journalist-annika-smethurst-home/11177052 .. in June.

Newsrooms across the country joined a public protest calling on the Federal Government to address threats against press freedom .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-06/abc-raids-what-they-tell-us-about-press-freedom/11187364 , petitioning Prime Minister Scott Morrison to change laws that would protect whistleblowers and journalists .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-13/press-freedom-inquiry/11407624 .. from prosecution when acting in the public interest.

On Thursday night, Smethurst told the awards ceremony she was unable to tweet the details of the raid on her home as the AFP had her phone.

O'Brien said the media industry was challenged by the polarisation of journalists as being left or right-leaning, a trend that "has to be resisted".

"For journalists to call out the powerful of any political colour for their abuses of power is not about ideology," he said.

"It is simply journalists doing their job, practising their craft."

O'Brien, who hosted 7.30, Four Corners and Lateline, was inducted in the Logies Hall of Fame earlier this year, using the opportunity to defend the ABC .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-01/kerry-obrien-logies-hall-of-fame-speech-defends-abc/11266172 .. in the wake of successive budget cuts and to reflect on the industry's failures to "cut through fake news".

More: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-28/kerry-obrien-press-freedom-walkley-awards-julian-assange/11748198

See also:

Ecuador Concluded That Assange Has Ties to Russian Intelligence
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face extradition hearing in February 2020
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Julian Assange is no journalist: don't confuse his arrest with press freedom
[...]
Other documents included the Afghanistan War Logs, the Iraq War Logs, and "CableGate" – a trove of classified diplomatic cables that contained some embarrassingly undiplomatic analysis of world leaders and their countries. So far so newsworthy.
P - But Assange went further. Instead of sorting through the hundreds of thousands of files to seek out the most important or relevant and protect the innocent, he dumped them all onto his website, free for anybody to go through, regardless of their contents or the impact they might have had. Some exposed the names of Afghans who had been giving information on the Taliban to US forces.
P - Journalism demands more than simply acquiring confidential information and releasing it unfiltered onto the internet for punters to sort through. It comes with responsibility.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=148215354

Obama Leaves Trump a Mixed Legacy on Whistle-Blowers
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