Were the Reds under the bed? (1 Viewer)

[Stott Despoja]

ASIO kept dirt files on ABC journalists

AUSTRALIAN spy agency ASIO kept dirt files on ABC journalists in the 1960s and 70s, recording details such as their religious persuasion, drinking habits and extramarital affairs, according to newly declassified files.
An ASIO memo dated 1963 revealed that there was a mole within the ABC who passed on personal gossip about staff members, including information on whether they were anti-communist.

The revelations that the spy agency not only kept tabs on journalists but also vetted them before they got jobs at the ABC will be broadcast in a Dateline program to be screened on SBS tonight.

Plug for Dateline.

Mr Ruddock also denied there was any current "vetting" systems in place for media outlets.

But Dateline reveals that an ABC journalist rang Abdul Benbrika, one of the Melbourne men facing terrorism charges, a few months before his arrest in November 2005 and that the tapped telephone call was reported immediately to Mr Ruddock's office by federal police.

Journalist and historian David McKnight said the reporting of that journalist's call to the ministerial head of ASIO raised all sorts of questions.

I realise that I could probably spin this thread into a discussion regarding the freedom of the press in Australia (either in general or in an age of 'anti-terror' laws), but I'm sure that there are better articles that could be used as a springboard for such a discussion.