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AFP's Keelty undermines open society

Ken McKinnon

Ken We do not want a closed society, Mick Keelty. We need more, not less, openness. In a democratic society the public has a right to know what is being done in their name, whether by government, police or the courts.

The views the Australian Federal Police commissioner advocated at the Sydney Institute on Tuesday night, that there should be a blackout on reporting of trials involving terrorism suspects "until the full gamut of judicial processes has been exhausted", reflects similar sentiments about a desire to muzzle the media made during his 2006 Press Council annual address. They are still wrong. Since he continues to express them even more strongly, the council must speak equally strongly in response.

Our freedoms must not be destroyed in the name of defending freedom. We have open courts so that citizens may be assured by attendance or media reports that their freedoms are being preserved. Only in the most extreme circumstances should courts be closed. The public interest is the standard by which matters investigated and reported by the media should be judged.

Source: ‘No need for a media muzzle’, The Australian, 2/3 February 2008. The full text of Ken McKinnon’s article can be found here.

Ken McKinnon [ASOPA 1954], former director of education in Papua New Guinea, is now chairman of the Australian Press Council.

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