The Journalist's Guide to Media Law - Chapter 3 - Freedom of the Press

Freedom of the Press was a movement that began with the invention of the printing press.

The book mentions official censorship was imposed via a licensing system for printers that had been introduced in 1530. The first major backlash against this came in 1644, when political philosopher and poet John Milton penned Areopagitica, a speech to the parliament appealing for freedom of the press.

The Foundation of freedom of the press was laid in England during the 16th and 17th centuries (Milton and Locke).

In the US liberal ideals expounded by men similar to Milton and Locke found their way into the first ammendment to the US Constitution has enshrined freedom of the press to this day:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

In Australia there is no equivalent to the First Amendment to the US Constitution to allow freedom of the press. However, in recent years the high Court of Australia handed down a series of decisions recognising an implied freedom to communicate on matters of government.

The first sort of ammendment to allow Freedom of Speech in Australia was in the 1990s. The High Court ruled the Australian Constitution contains an implied, but limited, right to freedom of speech on topics of political discussion.

The chapter covers allot of areas mainly through looking at cases over the years.

• The 1994: Establishing a constitutional defence to defamation.
• The 1997 decisions: Reaffirming free speech but refining the interpretation.
• 2011: Free speech versus privacy.
• 2002: Political free speech and defamation - one or two defences. 

Press Freedom was tested during the era of terrorism. The terrorist attacks lead the US to develop the USA Patriot Act of 2001.

In Australia anti-terrorism legislation has included restrictions on reporting evidence of the activities of ASIO, communicating with terrorist organisations, reporting the existence of detention orders, new surveillance and phone-tapping powers, a rebirth of the ancient law of sedition - which prohibits the criticism of the government.

Internationally Iceland and Finland have the highest in media freedom, while Burma, Turkmenistan and North Korea occupy the bottom three places of the 195 countries assessed. 

Press Freedom Organisations: Article 19, Committee to Protect Journalists, World Press Freedom Committee.