Press freedom is not a new issue, but many listeners in Australia, and even some overseas may have noticed that it has come into the spotlight again, with the recent AFP raids on ABC journalists.

Of course, many places in the world are still fighting hard to get proper press freedom, but now there seems to be a growing number of places that have well-established traditions of a free press, but are struggling to maintain it.

The heads of Australia’s media companies, rarely seen together in public, are now calling openly for new laws that protect press freedom and have criticised how the term “national security” is being used as a cover to strip away democratic debate.

In this episode, Caspar speaks with 30-year-old journalism teacher and researcher Gary Dickson. Gary teaches media law at Monash University and is currently completing his second masters researching the history of press freedom and the journalist labour movement globally.

Gary also founded and runs freepress.watch, a public record of violations of press freedom in Australia.

Gary and Caspar discussed his background studying history, and how this led him to find his passion in journalism. He provides a summary of which Australian laws he thinks are the most damaging to press freedom, and why we should be concerned. Plus much more.

This episode of Binge Thinking was produced edited by myself, Nina Roxburgh, was recorded at Youthworx studio in Melbourne, and features music by Big Gigantic.