I agree. But few people who report on matters topical deserve denigration.

Having said that public denigration of those with whom we disagree is one of those charactersitics of "our" society.

New Sedition laws may apply to a wider class of peoiple than just journalists; They will be troublesome for any one who dares open his or her mouth. We should take no comfort in JH's assurances that they've been on the statute books for decades with out being used.

I would suggest the ABC would be in quite a pickle if these laws were in place in the lead up to and during the major offensive of GW11 - Senator Alston would have had a feild day; and it is unlikely John Pilger or the likes of John Martinkus (SBS) would step foot on our shores ever again.

Laws are a bit like scientific capability - in science if it can be done it will be done regardless of the wisdom, morality or ethics of the application; the same can be said of laws.

Assurances from this government that these laws will be applied in only the extreme cases is as hollow as the never ever ever application of the GST - it is probably a non core assurance any way.

The new law can classify some forms of civil disobedience, criticism of the manarchy or its representative, criticism of parliament and or the government as seditious acts. Much of what is written here, under the revised defintions, could be regarded as seditious - I may yet be called upon again by the AFP and Mr Keelty

What we have seen since the rise of international terorrism is a series of disproportionate responses to marginal threats; despite its denials the government increased the likelihood of Australians involvment in terror by lurching into Iraq; since then it has had to reposition itself to cover its arse for a series of policy and intelligence errors.

It has discredited itself and condemned the community ( or parts of it at least ) to a period of fear and anxiety unwarranted and undeserved.

It seems very few people have actually bothered to read the text of the Bill. Most seem content to receive their information from others, who haven't read it either.

Most of the suggestions about the effects of the sedition laws are fanciful.

For the benefit of those who prefer to get the information from the horse's mouth, the bill is here

http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/Repository/Legis/Bills/Linked/03110504.pdf

Sylvia Else

Thank you for that well written article. I agree with many points, and would tip my hat to journalists in the main.
My issue in our recent times, is the titillating reporting of celebrity whilst the news is often not even mentioned, or if it is, 10 pages away. The public is not desirous of this rubbish news, we have just gone along with the flow only to realise that TV, Newspapers and Magazines are mainly full of tripe and nonsense. Our evening news barely mentions anything of importance, short blips of information, yet gives longer time on sport, celebrities and such.

The television news at present is only now mentioning the IR reforms, and Terrorism laws. The horse has already bolted, and, the public is only now being told the story.

The current news media on Television has almost stepped into the sensational and paparazzi mode of getting a story. The shock horror type of reporting on the arrests of 'suspected' terrorists is a point in kind. To see the wife of one of those arrested being followed to her children's school, to see her unable to leave her vehicle and the trying to enter her home with a microphone being pushed into her face was sickening and I felt for her. When did this sort of reporting become ok?
I do not blame journalists, I blame the Editors, and the newsroom bosses/Editors etc. As to the media circus of Celebrity and 'trash-elite',there are many of us out here, of all ages, who really want to be informed. We do not want reality TV style of shock and awe, we want good solid news reporting.
Most of my information comes from SBS/ABC and on-line news, as I feel, I am not being given the facts by current Australian news media. We should not only have these avenues for news open to us, we should expect and be given good solid journalism. Australia has always had very gutsy and highly intelligent journalists, and it is time we allow them to do their job.

Do posters remember a time of "investigative journalists" who used to conduct interviews with the politicians of the day in nightly"current affairs" programs? I remember Richard Carlton, when working for the ABC giving PM Bob Hawke, an earfull of "hard questions" or Michael Schulberger on Ch9's A Current Affair asking the hard questions that ordinary people would like to know the answers to, where have they gone? There is only one real current affairs program that I know of, and that is the 7:30 Report with Kerry O'Brien on ABC TV. I also feel that the jurno's in all commercial media outlets, are being lent upon by their powerfull owners to take a course which is informing, but not in great detail, so it can be said that they have delivered the news, but not explained in enough detail for us to completely understand what it means to us personally. Newspapers are much more informative than TV News, except for the ABC, and SBS, We need jurno's to be allowed to ask, encouraged to ask the tough questions, and support them when they do, otherwise we will continue to recieve the current situation

A free media is essential to democracy. I'm just thankful that there are other sources where the truth can be found. We need reporting, not interpretation from people who give themselves fancy titles like journalist and columnist. Good old fashion reporters are wanted so that we can form our own opinions.

It seems the writer does not have any regard for public opinion.
She says public opinion says journalists are regarded very lowly and that they are believed to be sensationalist, liars, political propagandists and pursuers of perve.
How can she argue with public opinion?
The public is always right . . . if they are not, the world would stop.
We also do not have a free media. The ABC is contolled by government via its finances.
The rest of the media is controlled by private enterprise and advertising.
If we had a free media all journalists would be volunteers.