Thread by @NathanLee

I find it somewhat mind blowing how self serving the media can be: they cheer on as normal citizens have rights stripped away for "terror", they focus on trivial bullshit while mass surveillance becomes the norm.. they stand by while whistleblower after whistleblower is destroyed

They fail to keep any sort of focus on important rights being signed away.. or individuals (that aren't their mates!) getting arrested, or intimidated or bullied by draconian powers.. and then one of their own gets a fraction of what they do to the general population..

And then they want carve outs for journalists under "press freedom" but will leave the rest of us swinging again.. and again.
And again.
As more draconian spy/police powers get a rubber stamp..

Press freedom? How about citizen freedoms? Then we can all have freedoms together. Rather than burning down the house around you. Why not drum shitty politicians out of office, rather than into office? Why leave the perpetrators of attacks on freedom free to continue?

And for News Corp to have just given millions of dollars worth of political advertising masquerading as newspapers/TV journalism.. and who are ever ready to crucify any party that doesn't rubber stamp fascist spying powers.. well..

And I feel for journos currently staring at draconian laws. I also feel for asylum seekers locked up indefinitely, or for people arrested for peaceful protests thanks to sweeping powers.. or the kids on a night out strip searched with no reason thanks to war On drugs bullshit

Now this is not to say all media, or all journalists - but even day to day political reinforcement of the failed two party notion: ALP is utterly spineless or worse on "national security". Yet the media ensures that "there's only two choices" get all the airtime.

I mean maybe if the media spent less time on vapid bullshit like pampered royals, or sportsball or boomer entitlement or whatever manufactured politician bickering they are going to make a fuss out of this week: they'd have some column space for countering the creeping fascism?

I mean of the thing that should have had politicians in jail: Alexander Downer boasted about misusing Australia's spy agencies for the benefit of (now his employer!) Woodside Petroleum. They later went after the brave whistleblower and even his lawyer..

And the press could have made that happen, had they shown appropriate respect to and protection of the good man/woman who spoke up about dodgy, unethical spying. But no: the poor sod is still in limbo, life in tatters. And he/she doesn't have newscorp legal team to bail them out

So if you want to see how the media has responded to these laws: utterly self serving and what seems like to me to be zero fucks given about the public.
So our media, who should be considering the public interest, confuse that with "just give media special exemptions"..

Here's another example: politicians give the nod to their media buddies and leave the general public swinging. Press freedom? What about those who have other jobs.. Why a special deal for an industry that has become highly suspect when driven by advertising revenue and clicks?

And metadata mass spying - instead of resisting the whole broken concept - the media got their special deal and waved it on through.. another special deal between politicians and media. theguardian.com/australia-news…

Here's a plea to the media: stop cheering on the erosion of privacy or due process or freedoms in the name of "security" or "terrorism" so long as you get your special deals. The rest of us matter too! Whistleblowers matter too. Citizens should not all be suspects in a free land.

Because while you lot might worry about your ability to get your quota of clicks and advertising revenue: there are plenty higher stake issues for others from these laws. Decades in jail for doing the right thing. Bullying and silencing political speech. Intimidation. Blackmail.

It's maddening watching the press stand there selfishly only questioning the "but where's our journalist free pass" for each new wave of unnecessary, ineffective and RIPE FOR ABUSE laws.. because you sold us down the river.. probably for a promise of a future scoop or something.

Journalists- ask yourself: if the freedom is important for journalists, why is it not important for everyone else? It's not like you lot are the only ones who hit "publish" these days or have private data.. and citizens or whistleblowers aren't getting paid and are at risk too.

I mean those terrorism laws got an innocent model uni student locked up without normal proof, without proper rights to legal or other communication.. that should have been the end of those laws and the politicians that put them in. But media couldn't be arsed following through..