State of the print media 2008

The Australian Press Council has published the 2008 edition of State of the News Print Media which summarises developments in a wide range of relevant fields over the last 12 months. Its assessment is that the trend of several years of erosion of free speech has now been arrested to some degree.

In the chapter (Seven) on Freedom of Information Rick Snell, Johan Lidberg and I provide a snapshot of what happened in the lead up to the 2007 Federal election and after, concluding:

"Developments since have kept reform on the agenda, but serve as a reminder that government, left to its own devices, will not approach change with speed or enthusiasm."

The chapter also covers the generally positive developments in the states, at least to the extent of reexamining legislation and the way it has been implemented.

The headnote to chapter 7 describes me as from the University of Tasmania- nice place that it is, I'm still in Sydney, with no connection with that or any other august institution of higher learning.