Seemorerocks: The Australian police raid the office of ABC in an attack on journalistic freedom

Wednesday 5 June 2019

The Australian police raid the office of ABC in an attack on journalistic freedom

Julian Assange has yet to be extradited but is languishing in The UK's Guantanamo Bay and already the Australian government is coming down on journalistic freedom.

A similar case in New Zealand has made it into court although the proceedings are secret and I cannot find any recent media coverage.

ABC's Sydney headquarters raided by Australian Federal Police over Afghan Files stories

The AFP said there would not be any arrests today
ABC managing director David Anderson said the broadcaster "stands by its journalists" and "will protect its sources"
An AFP statement said the warrant was not linked to an AFP raid on a Canberra News Corp journalist's home on Tuesday

AFP Police officers are seen sitting with ABC Lawyers in a meeting room.

ABC,

5 June, 2019

Australian Federal Police officers are raiding the ABC's Sydney headquarters over a series of 2017 stories known as The Afghan Files.

The stories, by ABC investigative journalists Dan Oakes and Sam Clark, revealed allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan and were based off hundreds of pages of secret Defence documents leaked to the ABC.

The search warrant names Oakes, Clark and the ABC's director of News Gaven Morris.

Three AFP officers entered the ABC first, followed shortly afterwards by three police IT technicians

AFP officers served the ABC legal team with a warrant and are searching for, and copying onto hard drives, information related to the warrant.

The AFP told the ABC they want to search through email systems in relation to the people mentioned in the search warrant and were searching "data holdings" between April 2016 and July 2017.

ABC 'will protect its sources'

ABC managing director David Anderson said it was "highly unusual for the national broadcaster to be raided in this way".

"This is a serious development and raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press and proper public scrutiny of national security and Defence matters," he said.

"The ABC stands by its journalists, will protect its sources and continue to report without fear or favour on national security and intelligence issues when there is a clear public interest."

ABC editorial director Craig McMurtrie described the raid as a "very unwelcome and serious development".

"This was outstanding reporting … it was clearly in the public interest and sometimes difficult truths have to be told," he said.

"We will be doing everything we can to limit the scope of this and we will do everything we can to stand by our reporters."

The raid comes one day after the AFP executed search warrants on the home of a News Corp journalist who had reported on secret plans to allow government spying.

The AFP released a statement saying no arrests were planned today and the warrant was "not linked to a search warrant executed in Canberra yesterday".

PHOTO: AFP officers wait at reception at the ABC building in Ultimo, Sydney. (ABC News: Taryn Southcombe)

PHOTO: The Australian Federal Police enter the ABC offices in Ultimo, Sydney. (ABC News: Taryn Southcombe)

The search warrant was "in relation to allegations of publishing classified material, contrary to provisions of the Crimes Act 1914", the statement said.

The ABC's Melbourne offices, where Clark and Oakes are based, have not been raided by the AFP.

AFP officers sit with the ABC Legal team and an IT Specialist all looking at a laptop.

PHOTO: AFP officers sit with the ABC Legal team and an IT Specialist (centre) overlooking the search for emails and data. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito )

A group of people sit around a table with documents and computers in front of them while camera operators capture proceedings.

PHOTO: ABC lawyers meet with the Australian Federal Police in the ABC's headquarters. (ABC News: Taryn Southcombe)

The Afghan Files

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-11/killings-of-unarmed-afghans-by-australian-special-forces/8466642

https://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-federal-police-raid-abc-headquarters-at-sydney-s-ultimo-20190605-p51uof.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0ga52pguTqNf1_SPq39TXnxMzySamPq0K0ReU2-vep7zH6VNMSiRhkPec#Echobox=1559698473

THE HIT AND RUN INQUIRY IN NEW ZEALAND HELD IN SECRET WITHOUT MEDIA COVERAGE

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, I have not reported on the 'Hit and Run' Inquiry into a similar incident in Afghanistan because there has been no media coverage. The whole court case is being held IN SECRET. This was the government that ran on 'transparency' (sic)

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1903/S00072/new-legal-action-taken-against-hit-and-run-inquiry.htm

The last entry in the web site “Hit and Run” was in October, 2018

Meanwhile, I have not been paying attention to the Adani story in Australia

ABC journalists have condemned alleged editorial interference by Adani and called on the news director, Gaven Morris, to explain why a story on the mining giant was never run.

Staff representatives from the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and union officials met on Tuesday morning after Guardian Australia and Media Watch reported the Adani spokeswoman Kate Campbell made a direct call to Morris to complain about a story before it aired.

The radio story, which had been commissioned for Saturday AM, was pulled from the run-down hours later. The ABC said later this was done to give Adani more time to respond.

“We invite ABC News director Gaven Morris to front news floor staff today to address these allegations and any other questions from staff on the floor,” union delegates said in a statement.

ABC says it didn't reject Adani story because of company pressure

“ABC MEAA members stand with ABC journalist Isobel Roe, whose story on Adani appears to have been pulled, and we reaffirm the commitment of all ABC journalists to the editorial independence of the ABC and to upholding our ability to do our job without fear or favour.”

ABC journalists have condemned alleged editorial interference by Adani and called on the news director, Gaven Morris, to explain why a story on the mining giant was never run.

The radio story, which had been commissioned for Saturday AM, was pulled from the run-down hours later. The ABC said later this was done to give Adani more time to respond.

“We invite ABC News director Gaven Morris to front news floor staff today to address these allegations and any other questions from staff on the floor,” union delegates said in a statement.