Australian media fight for press freedom

SYDNEY, May 10 (Reuters) Australia's major media organisations joined forces today to fight what they said was the erosion of press freedom in Australia.

Australia was a ''lightweight democracy'' that ranked 35th in the world in terms of press freedom, behind Bosnia, Bulgaria, Bolivia and Costa Rica, said John Hartigan, chief of Rupert Murdoch's Australian media operations News Ltd.

Reporters Without Borders ranked Australia 35th on its 2006 press freedom index. Finland was ranked first, Britain 27th, the United States 53rd and last was North Korea at 168th.

Hartigan said restrictions on reporting were increasing in Australia, many linked to heightened security, and there were now 500 different restrictions on media reporting in the country.

''Australians simply are not getting access to information to make informed decisions,'' Hartigan told reporters in launching a campaign to get the government to lift reporting restrictions.

''There has been an alarming slide into censorship and secrecy that has severely reduced what ordinary Australians are allowed to know about how they are governed and how justice is dispensed.'' The media coalition ''Australia's Right To Know'' includes News Ltd and Fairfax, which produce the country's major newspapers, the government-owned Australian Broadcasting Corp, and representatives of commercial radio and television outlets.

The coalition said issues such as suppression orders in courts, refusal of Freedom of Information applications and terror-related laws have eaten away at press freedom.

It said examples of the erosion of press freedom included two journalists facing jail for refusing to reveal a source for a story on war veterans being short-changed on their government benefits.

It also gave the example of police refusing to release a photograph of a convicted criminal on privacy grounds, saying the man was dead and could not give his permission.

The coalition will audit the state of free speech in Australia and present the results to the national government later in 2007.

Reuters AGL DS1137