The Alliance together with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) hosted a conference of international and Australian journalists on November 30 to December 1 to discuss attacks on press freedom around the world. Leading journalists from Asia, Europe and Australia addressed critical topics including; journalism in a time of national security, freedom of expression, media regulation, the laws affecting the media’s role including defamation, contempt and freedom of information legislation and its impacts and the media’s role in the administration of justice.

The two-day conference highlighted that journalists everywhere are facing common challenges from commercialisation of the media to ownership issues and draconian laws.

The conference heard how Australian laws, particularly the sedition section of the new anti-terror legislation will inhibit the public’s right to know and the ability of journalists to report the news as part of its vital role in the functioning of a democracy.

View a selection of presentations here.

Speakers included:

The Asia-Alliance Media Lecture: Free Media & Democracy in Asia

Siddharth Varadarajan, one of India's most senior journalists and deputy editor of The Hindu and editor of Gujarat: the Making of a Tragedy will speak on the media’s role in ethnic and religious strife, with special focus on the impact on Muslims of the Gujarat tragedy, the destruction of Buddhas in Afghanistan and the long-running Indo-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir.

Steven Gan, founder and publisher of malaysiakini.com a leading news website in Malaysia, will talk on the role that new news media plays in promoting democracy and human rights in Asia.

Sunanda Deshapriya, senior journalist and co-founder/spokesperson of Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement, will talk about the challenges facing journalists in Sri Lanka, particularly the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the Sri Lankan peace
process.

Michael Yu, one of Taiwan's most recognisable broadcast journalists and former president of the Association of Taiwan Journalists, will talk about the challenges facing journalists in Taiwan, and how China is taking an increasingly strident line against independent journalists and free media.

Journalists Under Pressure: Reinventing the Media Paradigm

Max Uechtritz, former director of news Channel 9 and former director of news and current affairs, ABC

Linda Foley, president, The Newspaper Guild, USA and Canada

Aidan White, general secretary, IFJ

The Story of Diminishing Press Freedoms in Australia

John Martinkus, journalist, SBS TV

Marion Wilkinson, editor, national security, The Sydney Morning Herald

Michael McKinnon, editor, freedom of information, The Australian

Richard Ackland, editor of Justinian and online media law journal Gazette of Law & Journalism

The Government Agenda: The Not So Secret Plan to Tame The Media

Quentin Dempster, presenter ABC-TV’s Stateline & author of Death Struggle

Liz Jackson, presenter Media Watch ABC-TV

Mark Day, Media columnist, The Australian