By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw
The Australian Senate’s Select Committee on the Future of Public Interest Journalism – known as the ‘Public Interest Journalism Committee’- has heard from several journalism educators in its inquiry into the future of public interest journalism.
Journalism academics have been made several of the 70 submissions to the inquiry and have featured among appearances at the public hearings held to date. It is heartening to see so many of my colleagues lending their considerable expertise to the committee’s deliberations upon the impact of fake news, emerging technologies and other social and economic changes upon the state of public journalism in Australia.
My own submission proposed a new public interest journalism defence which would excuse “legitimate and demonstrated public interest in freedom to communicate on this occasion”. You can read it at my earlier blog post here.
I recently appeared at the Sydney hearing of the committee and my testimony is available here.
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Disclaimer: While I write about media law and ethics, nothing here should be construed as legal advice. I am an academic, not a lawyer. My only advice is that you consult a lawyer before taking any legal risks.
© Mark Pearson 2017
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