free press

Kenneth Eade is a legal thriller writer who chooses difficult and original subjects, of the kind that preoccupy candobetter.net readers and authors. This article foreruns the imminent publication of The Spy Files and is based on Kenneth's research for that novel. See also "Book Review: Kenneth Eade's Thriller faction series highlights GMO industrial politics in US and Ukraine conflict". Candobetter.net Editor.

Privacy today faces threats from an ever-growing surveillance apparatus that is justified in the name of national security or the war on terror. Agencies of the federal government, such as the FBI and the NSA intrude on the communications and activities of private citizens on a regular basis, using data they mine from our private resources to establish watch lists, based on what they perceive to be “suspicious behavior.”

These watch lists have, among other things, prevented people from entering the country, prevented them from flying on airplanes, barred them from certain jobs, and shut them out of financial accounts.

News Limited is the main perpetrator of media abuses in Australia, writes Alan Austin, and hence the strongest proof the current self-regulation system is useless. (Article originally published on Independent Australia, from which we republish it with thanks. See end article for details.)

Attention Avaaz, Amnesty International, NATO, Hilary...
"Let the Syrian people alone. Let the Syrian people alone! Leave us alone! You are not bringing anything else but death, fear, chaos, instability, with your big declarations and with your big assemblies, and, also, with your big powers."

It is great to see two politically engaged women speak out about Syria. On the one hand we have Syrian Girl Partisan, who has reported in around 20 films. Now a catholic nun based in Syria has stood up and denounced Western reporting on events there, says most news reports from Syria were “forged, with only one side emphasised” and that this included those from the UN, whose reports were “one-sided and not worthy of that organisation”. She stated that, UN observers in Syria had been “moderate with the rebels and covered for them in taking back positions after the withdrawal of heavy equipment, as seen so tragically in Homs.”

Steven Mayne is a famous independent Australian political and economic reporter, founder of crikey.com and of the Mayne Report. Here he writes to the Australian Media Inquiry. "I was planning to open my submission with a crack at the Inquiry for not getting Rupert in to give evidence whilst he was in town, but there was no opportunity... Former Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein was very much on the front foot leading the discussion and my session from 2-3pm this afternoon turned into an hour of combat, covering the ins and outs of the Murdoch empire, media regulation, corrections, licensing and media ethics."

There is a global movement called Avaaz that wants to unite people to prevent the world's largest media baron from buying nearly half of the British mass media, arguably boosting his power to undermine global efforts on everything from peace to the environment. The group claims that there are only 48 hours to press the UK government to stand up and stop Rupert Murdoch.

Google may permit giant corporations to control internet accessibility. Several news outlets reported yesterday that Google and Verizon are about to cut a deal that would allow giant corporations to control which websites load slowly, quickly, or not at all. The upshot would be that the multimedia and governments would once again hog the internet to the exclusion of democratic alternatives.

"Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon -- the most powerful broadband providers -- are trying to fundamentally change the way the Internet works. They're seeking to make even bigger profits by acting as gatekeepers over what we see and do online. If they succeed, the Internet would be more like radio and television: a few major corporations would control which voices are heard most easily, and it would be much harder for grassroots groups, individuals, and small businesses to compete with large corporations and well-funded special interests."

We are sorry to that candobetter.org has been off-line from time to time recently and has experienced massive slow-downs. It was out of the owner's control. We need another v-server in order to insure against this kind of incident. It will cost a few thousand per annum to rent and I am taking this opportunity to prepare our readers and writers to consider supporting candobetter.org's owner and originator, James Sinnamon, in renting a new, supplementary v-server or buying a new machine. James bears all candobetter's production costs alone, without profit. He does this because he realises how important for our society and democracy it is to have a free alternative press. Candobetter.org is published via internet technology which is not aligned with microsoft or any commercial internet provider. The owner constructs the site in linux. These qualities are precautions against arbitrary removal of access, hacking and censorship, which are ever-present threats.

"Keep it rural. Say 'No' to suburbia." Macedon Ranges Residents’ Association Inc [MRRA] website is an example of the formation of a local alternative press, as a means of representing a community view, not adequately represented by official channels of local or state government. The MRRA arose because of the threat of state driven overpopulation causing loss of regional identity and rural and wild spaces. It is not alone. Candobetter.org's writers come from activists within these kinds of organisations and candobetter.org's raison d'etre is to unite common causes across the country in issues of democracy, environment, population, land use planning and energy policy.

Disappointed in government departments and ministers, environmental organisations and other NGOs often try to take their cause to the mainstream press. But this is usually just as problematic in the end. Why? See also: Tax-deductibility and Environmental Groups & NGOs