Lachlan Murdoch declares a free press remains vital in his Sir Keith Murdoch Oration
LACHLAN Murdoch has taken aim at the Abbott Government’s new laws affecting journalists, saying censorship must “be resisted in all its insidious forms”.
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PRESS freedom must be protected as a cornerstone of democracy but remains under threat even in the digital age, Lachlan Murdoch said last night in his Sir Keith Murdoch Oration at the State Library of Victoria.
Insisting censorship “be resisted in all its insidious forms”, the News Corp co-chairman reflected on the famous letter his grandfather wrote that “changed history and saved Australian lives” by revealing the true extent of the horrors of the Gallipoli campaign almost a century ago.
“The events of September 1915, in particular, have a remarkable relevance to today, especially in regard to press freedoms and to freedom of speech,” Mr Murdoch said.
IN DEPTH: Read an extended excerpt from Lachlan Murdoch’s speech
Military censorship had prevented three embedded war correspondents from publishing accurate reports and Sir Keith — then a young newsman — was asked by Australian prime minister Andrew Fisher to assess the campaign and report back to him.
Sir Keith spent four days on the peninsula, and Australian correspondent Charles Bean informed him of the unfolding tragedy. He persuaded English correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett to write a private letter to British PM Herbert Asquith.
That document was seized from Sir Keith and he subsequently wrote his own letter to Mr Fisher outlining the mass casualties and command failures, forwarding a copy to Mr Asquith.
Just weeks later, on October 14, the British Cabinet abandoned the campaign and General Sir Ian Hamilton was relieved of his command.
But modern governments, including the former Labor government’s scrapped Public Interest Media Advocate or the Abbott Government’s proposed laws to jail journalists for disclosing information about a “special intelligence operation” were examples of ongoing censorship, Mr Murdoch said last night.
“We have literally hundreds of separate laws and regulations that currently govern the working press. We certainly do not need further laws to jail journalists who responsibly learn and accurately tell.
“A century ago, Keith Murdoch’s Gallipoli letter was Australia’s boldest declaration that our nation had a right to know the truth. We should be vigilant of the gradual erosion of our freedom to know, to be informed, and make reasoned decisions in our society.”
Originally published as Lachlan Murdoch declares a free press remains vital in his Sir Keith Murdoch Oration