Return to the hacker at the University of Melbourne The free press in Australia is in its death throes. And when it dies so does our freedom of speech and with it our future expectations that our children should have a ‘fair go’.
The clearest visible evidence of the manner in which the Murdoch/Packer media manipulate the truth is demonstrated by their handling of Pauline Hanson and her party One Nation.
What is divisive with suggesting the Australian majority should protect their eroding lifestyle? What is racist about suggesting that all Australians should be treated equally?
The finger should be pointed clearly back at those who distort the truth for their own aims.
What happened to the Four Corners expose on Kerry Packer in our mainstream media? What happened to coverage by the Courier and Sunday Mail of the launch of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation? Why has Channel 9’s Sixty Minutes not gone after Packer on his refusal to pay a claim by the Australian Tax Office for Au$143 million? Why has ‘The Australian’ not covered Mr Murdoch’s summons to face tax evasion charges of Au$150 million in Israel?
If you watched the ABC’s Media Watch program on Tuesday night (April 28) you would have reason to support the thinking here. In summary the presenter said, "The pre-emptive censorship at Fairfax of a story that might embarrass Packer is something John Howard and Richard Alston should seriously consider before they put those rivers of gold in Packer's direction. But who am I kidding?"
The reference to Packer’s tax bill above is only known to us because it appears on the Internet under a page run by Fairfax’s BRW. But I wonder, under the circumstances, how long it will remain there?
(http://www.2000.fairfax.com.au/articles/best_of/1kpacker.html)
The Internet - the last place where you or I, irrespective of race, can voice our opinions and be heard without editorial input was put to the test late last week when the establishment (the University of Melbourne) hacked into one of our web pages. The story was covered on the front page of the Queensland Times but, despite its implication to our freedom of speech, has been totally ignored by both News Limited and the Packer group.
Why? I believe because it involved Pauline Hanson’s One Nation web site. Now imagine if the shoe had been on the other foot and One Nation had perpetrated a crime against freedom of speech.
Whether you be Chinese, Aboriginal, an Anglo-Saxon import, a descendent of the First Fleet you should, as an Australian, be concerned because freedom of speech is no longer your right but the perception of those who would manipulate and distort what you say or what you do through their strangle hold on the press.
Scott Balson
Karana Downs
Return to the hacker at the University of Melbourne