Csu Stories

“Journalists are not usually the subject of police raids. With the News Limited raid and the next day, the ABC raids, a precedent was set and police going in and searching around journalist files is a dangerous precedent to be set. The problem is journalism has a role as a watchdog in democracy and having police interfere in that role…threatens the fundamental obligation of journalists to their sources to maintain confidentiality.” Jock discusses the current climate and emerging laws governing data and security that are setting off alarm bells for investigative journalists in Australia. Has it gone too far? And if so – why? Jock is a senior lecturer in journalism at Charles Sturt and has been a journalist since 1991, with writing published in in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Times Higher Education Supplement (UK) and The Independent (UK), among many others, and his video and radio work has been broadcast on the ABC. In 2009 Jock was a Walkley Award finalist. Episode recorded: 25 November