Cops raid Australian broadcaster offices

[Eldorado]

"Police have raided the Sydney headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC), in a second day of searches targeting journalists.

"Officers arrived at the public broadcaster with search warrants naming two reporters and the news director. The ABC has protested over the raid.

"The police action is related to articles about alleged misconduct by Australian forces in Afghanistan."

Full report at the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-48522729

At the ABC: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-05/abc-raided-by-australian-federal-police-afghan-files-stories/11181162

[spartan max2]

And the west marches another step close to censorship of media 

[RoofGardener]

38 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

And the west marches another step close to censorship of media 

And the West moves closer on the people who leaked highly confidential military files. 

Broadcasters are not immune from the Law, and the raid was (presumably) undertaken under the auspices of a court order, and due process. 

Edited June 5, 2019 by RoofGardener

[Golden Duck]

It's ironic that John Lyons, et al, are bleating about freedom of the press, protection for journalists, and how this wouldn't happen in the USA. Yet Chas Licciardello, in his piece about the Assange Indictments (Planet America, 31 May), explained there are no special protections for journalists and free press is an activity - not a group.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Golden Duck

[Dark_Grey]

1 hour ago, RoofGardener said:

And the West moves closer on the people who leaked highly confidential military files. 

Broadcasters are not immune from the Law, and the raid was (presumably) undertaken under the auspices of a court order, and due process. 

So better to stay quiet about war crimes? That's exactly what cracking down on whistle blowers is meant to achieve. Instill the fear of god in any one who even thinks about exposing corrupted officials.

[RoofGardener]

3 minutes ago, Dark_Grey said:

So better to stay quiet about war crimes? That's exactly what cracking down on whistle blowers is meant to achieve. Instill the fear of god in any one who even thinks about exposing corrupted officials.

Yeeeees.... ummm....if it involved the theft of classified documents, then that is a crime. The people involved would have to explain that to a court. 

The police, meanwhile, would have to option but to investigate, hence the warrant to search ABC. 

[Dark_Grey]

5 minutes ago, RoofGardener said:

Yeeeees.... ummm....if it involved the theft of classified documents, then that is a crime. The people involved would have to explain that to a court. 

The police, meanwhile, would have to option but to investigate, hence the warrant to search ABC. 

If the theft of documents lead to prosecution of mass murderers, would the crime of theft hold the same weight? It's too easy for them to say "these classified documents put the country at risk" as they are also the only ones who could make that distinction. I guess these same arguments get rehashed every time there is a leak, starting with Snowden and Manning

[Black Red Devil]

In another similar case,

'Dangerous act of intimidation': AFP raid home of News Corp journalist

Police have raided the home of a News Corp journalist in what the media company has called a "dangerous act of intimidation" after she reported on a top secret government proposal to give Australia's cyber spies unprecedented powers.

 

Australian Federal Police officers presented Annika Smethurst, the national political editor of News Corp's Sunday tabloids, with a search warrant on Tuesday morning.

The warrant granted officers authority to access her home, computer and mobile phone.

The actions are in connection to a story published in April 2018 which revealed internal government discussions about introducing new powers for electronic intelligence agency the Australian Signals Directorate.

 

So a story that was published 1 year ago  has all of a sudden become a National Security issue?  Combining the two stories, has the AFP been given unlimited judicial and jurisdictional powers in the last couple of weeks?

This sounds more like stuff you would expect from North Korea.  Unbelievable.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Meanwhile, as result of things entirely unrelated to the raids on the ABC the ABC has decided to not pursue an investigation into “irregularities” involving the Federal Government in relation to the recent election.

[Peter B]

On 6/5/2019 at 10:29 PM, RoofGardener said:

And the West moves closer on the people who leaked highly confidential military files. 

Broadcasters are not immune from the Law, and the raid was (presumably) undertaken under the auspices of a court order, and due process. 

Sure, the two raids were apparently conducted in accordance with the letter of the law as it stands. The questions are (a) whether the law is just, and (b) whether the raids were conducted in accordance with the intent of the law.

This article discusses these questions: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-08/afp-raids-journalist-house-abc-headquarters-laura-tingle/11191446?section=politics

Smethurst's story, which included photographs of government documents, said the Home Affairs and Defence departments were considering giving spy agencies greater surveillance powers.

The story alleged new powers, if adopted, would go to the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to secretly access bank records, emails and text messages...

The second story involved allegations of serious war crimes in Afghanistan.