SA net censorship claims "overblown"
- 02 February, 2010 13:02
- Comments 5
The South Australian Attorney General has poured cold water on claims tougher laws will affect political comment on talkback radio and social networking sites in the lead up to state elections.
The reform of Section Two, Part 116 of the Electoral Act 1985 came into effect early last month and requires legitimate names and addresses to be supplied for people posting online comments to state election stories by South Australian news outlets.
The move ruffled the feathers of media outlets in the state which - through The Right to Know Coalition of News limited, Fairfax, the ABC, the SBS, and AAP – labeled the laws “draconian”, according to News Limited's Adelaide Advertiser.
But the media minder for the state's AG, Robert Malinauskas - a former cadet journalist for The Advertiser – said claims that the laws would apply to talkback radio or social networking are false.
“It is not true – Facebook severs are located overseas [and] talkback radio is governed by Commonwealth law,” Malinauskas said.
“[The law] prevents defamation... it is an extension to online of 70-year old existing law that requires media to verify the details of people sending in letters to the editor.”
Media organisations say the law is excessive because online posts and talkback radio comments are already moderated and checked for defamation before being published.
The amendment to the Electoral Act was passed last year and will slap news agencies with a $5000 fine for withholding names and addresses from the Electoral Commissioner.
Malinauskas confirmed the law requires news outlets to publish first and last names of those commenting on elections, along with their postcodes.
Attorney-General Michael Atkinson locked horns with The Advertiser saying News Limited will “publish false stories about me, invent things about me to punish me" and dubbed its AdelaideNow Website “a sewer of identity theft and fraud".
The law has also seen accusations emerge that the state government is running a “secret state”, fueled by allegations that it has left hundreds of political questions unanswered for years.
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Comments
Dean
Atkinson is starting to get kind of wierd... Some of the stuff he's been saying is totally wacky... "false stories about me, invent things about me to punish me" -- persecution complex, much?
BJ
Fair dinkum, this clown is the worst Attorney General ever. this is the same imbecile who blocked the introduciton of an R18+ classification of video games only because he was lobbied by religeos groups and the porn industry - That rating, if introduced would have actually put a lawful onus on sellers not to provide the content to minors, now everyone just goes to amazon etc. (This is relevant bare with me)
And what a surprise here he is looking to control what the media can and can't print, yet by his own admissions (as identified by Dean 02/02/2010 14:28) hecan turn around and say what he likes about a media outlet....face it his guy is well past his use-by date, is out of touch with reality and needs to either step down or be stood down....He's a joke!
Richard G
I'm ashamed to be South Australian.
Nat Bradford
Isn't it remarkable that Atkinson is sure the local paper will “publish false stories about me, invent things about me to punish me"?
This would be the same paper he and his Government have used to manipulate the SA public for a number of years - amazing what happens when the worm turns.
Just what exactly is he trying to hide?
Censorship is alive and well in Australia, and it's about to get worse...
Michael
Michael Atkinson time to see a professional, perhaps a psychologist but most probably a psychiatrist as it appears you need medication of some sort to calm your nerves.
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