The NT Government blacklists a small independent news site because of grievances with its owner. Experts, including media rights advocates, academics and a constitutional lawyer, say the Gunner Government is curtailing press freedom.
The NT Government's decision to blacklist an online publication from Government press conferences and information channels has been denounced by critics as an assault on press freedom.The Dean of Law at UNSW says the Government's ban could breach the constitutionThe NT Government claims it has frozen out the NT Independent, a news site that covers Northern Territory current affairs and politics, because of grievances with its publisher.
"Over the course of many years [the publication's owner] has made repeated derogatory and sexist references to female MLAs, and engaged in bullying and completely unacceptable behaviour," the NT Government said. The NT Independent has been involved in a series of flashpoints with Mr Gunner's Labor Government this year after the publication was first banned from attending press conferences in April.
"We were showing up and it was after that first time … they stopped putting out email alerts to newsrooms of where their press conferences will be," Walsh said. "That tells me their real reason has less to do with personal grudges and more to do with wanting to avoid scrutiny." A spokesman for Mr Gunner said the Government "does not recognise the website as an independent and reputable news media outlet given the nature of its ownership".
Walsh says the ban on the NT Independent extends to all Government departments, which do not respond to its inquiries. "So if a government actually stops a news outlet being able to report or access information, that would raise legal questions as to whether that implied freedom has been breached.""If you start denying [media outlets] access to press conferences and more general forms of information that is a concern, because we don't want governments manipulating outlets in that way," he said.
"The premise that just because you may have issues with the owner of a publication that that would flow over into you banning that publication, that is hugely problematic," he said. "I've had a look [and there are] no complaints about its publication standards or ethical standing," he said. The Northern Territory is already one of the most shallow media markets in Australia, with journalists from only a handful of online, radio and broadcast outlets typically in attendance at Government press conferences.
"Even though Government responses typically don't say a whole lot, it has been hard to balance articles, which is really important.
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