Tuesday, 14 December 2010

Information is the Antidote to Fear: Wikileaks, the Law, and You

STATEMENT FROM AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER EDITORS, TELEVISION AND RADIO DIRECTORS AND ONLINE MEDIA EDITORS

Dear Prime Minister,

The leaking of 250,000 confidential American diplomatic cables is the most astonishing leak of official information in recent history, and its full implications are yet to emerge. But some things are clear. In essence, WikiLeaks, an organisation that aims to expose official secrets, is doing what the media have always done: bringing to light material that governments would prefer to keep secret.

In this case, WikiLeaks, founded by Australian Julian Assange, worked with five major newspapers around the world, which published and analysed the embassy cables. Diplomatic correspondence relating to Australia has begun to be published here.

The volume of the leaks is unprecedented, yet the leaking and publication of diplomatic correspondence is not new. We, as editors and news directors of major media organisations, believe the reaction of the US and Australian governments to date has been deeply troubling. We will strongly resist any attempts to make the publication of these or similar documents illegal. Any such action would impact not only on WikiLeaks, but every media organisation in the world that aims to inform the public about decisions made on their behalf. WikiLeaks, just four years old, is part of the media and deserves our support.

Already, the chairman of the US Senate homeland security committee, Joe Lieberman, is suggesting The New York Times should face investigation for publishing some of the documents. The newspaper told its readers that it had ‘‘taken care to exclude, in its articles and in supplementary material, in print and online, information that would endanger confidential informants or compromise national security.’’ Such an approach is responsible — we do not support the publication of material that threatens national security or anything which would put individual lives in danger. Those judgements are never easy, but there has been no evidence to date that the WikiLeaks material has done either.

There is no evidence, either, that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have broken any Australian law. The Australian government is investigating whether Mr Assange has committed an offence, and the Prime Minister has condemned WikiLeaks’ actions as ‘‘illegal’’. So far, it has been able to point to no Australian law that has been breached.

To prosecute a media organisation for publishing a leak would be unprecedented in the US, breaching the First Amendment protecting a free press. In Australia, it would seriously curtail Australian media organisations reporting on subjects the government decides are against its interests.

WikiLeaks has no doubt made errors. But many of its revelations have been significant. It has given citizens an insight into US thinking about some of the most complex foreign policy issues of our age, including North Korea, Iran and China.

It is the media’s duty to responsibly report such material if it comes into their possession. To aggressively attempt to shut WikiLeaks down, to threaten to prosecute those who publish official leaks, and to pressure companies to cease doing commercial business with WikiLeaks, is a serious threat to democracy, which relies on a free and fearless press.

Yours faithfully

Clinton Maynard, news director, 2UE

David Penberthy, editor-in-chief, news.com.au

Eric Beecher, chairman, Crikey, Smart Company, Business Spectator, The Eureka Report

Gay Alcorn, editor, The Sunday Age

Garry Bailey, editor, The Mercury (Hobart)

Garry Linnell, editor, The Daily Telegraph

Ian Ferguson, director of news and programs, Sky News Australia/New Zealand

Jim Carroll, network director of news and public affairs, Ten Network

Julian Ricci, editor, Northern Territory News

Kate Torney, director of news, ABC

Mark Calvert, director of news and current affairs, Nine Network

Melvin Mansell, editor, The Advertiser (Adelaide)

Megan Lloyd, editor, Sunday Mail (Adelaide)

Michael Crutcher, editor, The Courier Mail,

Mike van Niekerk, editor in chief, Fairfax online

Paul Cutler, news director, SBS

Paul Ramadge, editor-in-chief, The Age

Peter Fray, editor-in-chief, The Sydney Morning Herald

Peter Meakin, director of news and public affairs, Seven Network

Rick Feneley, editor, The Sun-Herald

Rob Curtain, news director, 3AW

Rod Quinn, editor, The Canberra Times

Sam Weir, editor, The Sunday Times

Scott Thompson, The Sunday Mail (Queensland)

Simon Pristel, editor, Herald Sun

Tory Maguire, editor, The Punch

Walkley Advisory Board

Gay Alcorn

Mike Carlton

Helen Dalley

John Donegan

Peter Meakin

Laurie Oakes

Jeni O'Dowd

Alan Kennedy

Malcolm Schmidtke

Fenella Souter

Inside 'Anonymous': tales from within the group taking aim at Amazon and Mastercard

Monday, 13 December 2010

Families encouraged by ‘open’ disclosure in hidden Hillsborough files project

The hidden Hillsborough disaster files are likely to be released as one all-encompassing dossier.

A panel of experts are currently wading through thousands of previously-unseen documents on the 1989 tragedy.

No timescale has been confirmed for the process although it is thought the committee are working towards a release date in 2012.

So far the families of the 96 Reds fans killed on the Leppings Lane terrace have been encouraged by updates from the panel, headed by the Bishop of Liverpool.

This week they were assured the committee are yet to encounter any confidential papers or be barred any access to particular information.

There are some fears among relatives, who have fought a 21 year campaign for justice, that the two year project could leave them disappointed with suggestions the Government could mark some files as completely restricted.

But that concern now looks it may be unfounded.

A third of the files have been digitised as three archivists and three researchers study the information...

Continue reading

Luke Traynor @'Liverpool Echo'

HA!

You can't avoid settlements

Just the peasants!!!

@'TechShrimp'

NewsHour More than 1,958 people on the Gawker list used the word "password" as their password. http://ow.ly/3o3Xs

FACT mix 210: Bjørn Torske

Keen readers will remember the Norwegian producer’s wonderful 2007 album Feil Knapp featuring in our 100 Best Albums of the 2000s, but he was a cult hero in the house scene of his native Norway and among the disco cognoscenti of the wider world long before that album’s release.

Torske hails from Tromsø,which is just north of the arctic circle and widely regarded as Norway’s capital of electronic music, having given us the likes of Biosphere, Royksopp and Mental Overdrive in recent years. His first techno-oriented productions in the early 1990s were picked up for release by Crammed Discs in Belgium and Holland’s legendary Djax-Up-Beats, and later by Reinforced, the London imprint run by 4Hero’s Marc and Dego.

After a stint touring as live synth player for Biosphere, and the release of an album on Djax, Torske took a break from production. Sporadic single releases found their way out into the world, but it wasn’t until 1999 that Torske returned in earnest. He began releasing 12″s through SVEK and Tellé Records, the latter also putting out his Trøbbel LP. Around this time Torske and his partner in crime, the late Erot, fashioned their own distinctive micro-genre, “skrangle-house” (literal translation: rattle house), essentially just a freeform, disco and dub-inflected but resoundingly dancefloor-friendly approach to house inspired by the UK’s Idjut Boys. Erot and Bjørn’s track ‘Søppelmann’ became the signature skrangle-house tune, and helped inspire a whole new generation of Norwegian producers, including Todd Terje, Prins Thomas and Lindstrøm.

Nonetheless, Torske remained an elusive character. When FACT interviewed Prins Thomas in 2007, we asked him who he’d most like to sign if money grew on trees. He replied: “If I could lure him our of his cave for a second, I wouldn’t mind getting some new stuff from Bjorn Torske.” Soon after, Smalltown Supersound unleashed Feil Knapp, easily the most kaleidoscopic and accomplished Torske LP to date. Rooted in disco-tinged house and techno, but with shades of dub, broken beat, Balearica, jazz, avant-electronics, krautrock and ambient, it’s just an impeccably composed and produced work, complex musical ideas conveyed with an easy-going charm.

Torske has just released his fourth album, Kokning. Its title refers to a kind of meal preparation peculiar to Norway: that of putting potatoes on to boil, going out to sea to catch a fish and then returning home to finish cooking. Not sure how that relates to the music, but we like it…Kokning is more rooted in acoustic sound than the heavily programmed Feil Knapp; even its crunchy rhythm tracks are derived from Torske’s experiments recording different sounds, instruments and textured objects in rooms of varying size and acoustics.

We’re absolutely delighted to have this legendary producer helming a FACT mix. His selection is diverse and discerning as you’d expect, with a clear emphasis on genuine musicality. The mix is anchored in classic On-U-Sound, with tracks from African Head Charge, Paul Haig, Creation Rebel and New Age Steppers figuring prominently alongside more frigid post-punk classics from Section 25 and The Durutti Column. There’s room too for the entrancing krautrock spiritualism of Popol Vuh, the expansive live techno of the Moritz Von Oswald Trio and a number of curios as new to us as they doubtless are to many of you. With the nights getting longer and the days getting colder, we strongly suggest you put some potatoes on to boil and give it a whirl.

Direct download: FACT mix 210 – Bjorn Torske

(Available for three weeks)

Tracklist:

Popol Vuh – Aguirre (Ohr/Soul Jazz)

KLF – Dream time in Lake Jackson (KLF Communications)

Yello – Homer hossa (Vertigo)

Creation Rebel & New age steppers – Last sane dream (Cherry Red/ON-U Sound)

Paul Haig – Mad horses (Disques Crepuscule)

Moritz von Oswald trio – Vertical ascent 1 (Honest Jons)

Section 25 – Looking from a hilltop (Eskimo)

Crimea X – Varvara (Hell Yeah!)

Yolanda – Afro rat (Sex Tags Amfibia)