Media law in Australia: Principles, pitfalls and potentials

Abstract

Media Law In Australia discusses an array of laws that impact on the media’s publishing activities. It focuses on the laws that media professionals and others who are preparing publication content must consider. A national audit of free speech commissioned by the Right To Know Coalition grouping of Australia’s main media organisations reported in 2007 that Australians were being denied vital information about how they are governed and how justice is dispensed and that journalists faced more than 500 legal restrictions on information flow. That position remains largely unchanged. This book sets the stage for discussion by considering two preliminary topics: the free speech theory and the various instruments that enshrine freedom of speech, and the oft-invoked ‘public interest’ argument. The laws discussed in this book are divided into convenient sub-topics: Making The Law, Defamation; Confidentiality and Secrecy; Privacy; Freedom of Information; Media and the Courts and Parliament; Offensive Speech; Copyright; and Media Regulators. Also included is a discussion on the various media regulation reform initiatives such as the Finkelstein Inquiry, the Convergence Review and the Leveson Inquiry.