http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Australias-press-freedoms-sinking-RWB/2007/03/15/1173722565942.html

Increasing police and government intervention in the media has dragged Australia's press freedoms below those of many former Soviet bloc countries, according to the international journalism watchdog.

Mr Beeby said regular incursions by the Australian Federal Police into newsrooms to unearth journalists' sources and federal government laws to gag the media and intimidate public servants were alarming.

The list included the convictions of Herald-Sun journalists Gerard McManus and Michael Harvey for contempt of court for refusing to divulge the source of a story, reporting bans under anti-terrorism laws, a ban on journalists interviewing refugees and the High Court's failure to support Freedom of Information laws.

Mr Beeby said federal treasurer Peter Costello's successful action to prevent The Australian newspaper publishing details of taxation "bracket creep" and details of the first home buyers' scheme exemplified the government's obsession with secrecy.

"The crackdown is seen not only as an attempt to deter journalists from breaking news out of Canberra, but also as a bid to intimidate public servants," said Mr Beeby, News Limited's group editorial manager and a director of AAP.

"At the same time, federal and state governments employ spin doctors in their hundreds to ensure only approved versions of stories see the light of day and to keep reporters off the scent of adverse or controversial stories."

He also said suppression orders and restrictions on media access to court documents help make Australia's legal system "one of the least transparent in the developed world".

"In further potential blows to investigative journalism, the Australian Law Reform Commission is reviewing the media exemption in the Privacy Act, despite there being no major concerns about its operation, and the federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, wants bans to be imposed on the taking of photographs in public places."

"Some sports are also selling official photographic rights with the apparent intent of eventually excluding newspaper photographers from games, so that only approved pictures will be issued for publication," he said.

I think it's laughable that a Rupert Murdoch newspaper is worrying about 'press freedom.' This is coming from a guy that has almost all the newspapers of Australia monopolized.

But I think Australia's media is definitely being held back through these ridiculous censorships. I definitely support Murdoch in this case.

As well as freedom of speech do you not have anti-monopoly laws, or is Murdoch exempt?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Govt-abused-laws-to-stifle-media-Rudd/2007/05/11/1178390521403.html

The Howard government has abused protection laws to strangle the flow of public documents requested by journalists, federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd says.

If he wins the election later this year, Mr Rudd has pledged a Labor government will be more open when government material is requested under freedom of information laws.

Australia's major media companies announced they had joined forces to fight against the erosion of press freedom in Australia.

They said 500 separate legal prohibitions were denying the Australian public access to important information.

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China shuts down media freedom site 'within hours'

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking-news/china-shuts-down-media-freedom-site-within-hours/2007/05/30/1180205335537.html

China's Internet police took between five and eight hours to track down the new location of Reporters Without Borders' Chinese language website and block it, the media freedom group said Wednesday.

The site www.rsf-chinese.org was first launched on May 3 but access within China was quickly denied, the media watchdog said in a statement sent to AFP.

The Paris-based press freedom advocate has already labelled China's government an "enemy of the Internet."

Experts say 30,000-40,000 Internet police are employed to implement the country's extensive Internet censorship system, known as the "Great Firewall of China."

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Muslim Journalist On Trial For Supporting Israel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah_Choudhury

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is editor of the controversial Bangladeshi tabloid The Weekly Blitz.

A devout Muslim, Choudhury opened a branch of the Israel-based International Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace. He wrote about the rise of al-Qaeda in Bangladesh and has written articles against anti-Israeli and Judeophobic attitudes in Muslim-majority countries.

Choudhury will face charges of sedition, treason, blasphemy and espionage for having tried to attend a conference of the Hebrew Writers' Association in Tel Aviv. He violated the Passport Act, by attempting to travel to Israel in November 2003. The Act forbids citizens from visiting countries with which Bangladesh does not maintain diplomatic relations, usually punishable by a fine of $8. On November 29, he was taken into police custody[7] and, as he tells it, blindfolded, beaten and interrogated for 10 days in an attempt to extract a confession that he was spying for Israel. He spent the next 17 months in solitary confinement, and was denied medical treatment for his glaucoma. On intervention of U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk, who spoke to Bangladesh's ambassador to the U.S., Choudhury's was released on bail, though the charges were not dropped.[8]

In July, a mob stormed the premises of Choudhury's tabloid and beat him, fracturing his ankle.[9] In September, a judge ordered the case continued, in spite of the government's reluctance to prosecute, as Choudhury had "spoiled" the "image of Bangladesh" and "hurt the sentiments of Muslims" by lauding Jews, Hindus and Christians. After the police detail that had been posted to the Blitz's offices since the July bombing had vanished, the offices were ransacked and Choudhury was badly beaten by a mob. When he lodged a formal complaint with the police, an arrest warrant was issued for him. The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka sent an observer to his trial.[8]

Later, Choudhury lodged a case in the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate against the attackers, mostly belonging to the Cultural Wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Now the case is under investigation. From 13th November 2006, the judge will begin hearing the witnesses in this case.

http://www.spme.net/cgi-bin/articles.cgi?ID=783

Dhaka, July 5, 2006. At 11:35pm, local time, two explosions rocked the office of Weekly Blitz, the independent newspaper of maverick editor, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. Choudhury was not on the premises at the time, and he reported that no one was injured in the explosions. Dhaka police and members of the anti-terrorist Rapid Action Battalion recovered material from two bombs that exploded outside the facility and two unexploded bombs from inside Blitz offices.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193464551&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull