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Wednesday, May 11, 2005 |
George W. Bush trying to beam up secret information via satellite.
11:32:30 AM 
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A special report was published by the International Federation of Journalists and Statewatch.
"This report identifies a number of global themes all of which impact upon human rights and the work of journalists. Taken together they reveal that fighting a war with no set piece military confrontation, no hard-and-fast objective, no clearly defined boundaries, and no obvious point of conclusion, inevitably leads to restrictions on civil liberties and principles that constitute the moral backbone of democratic society.
The findings are troubling and should ring alarm bells within media. It asks critical questions about international governance, about the mission of journalism in
combating secrecy, about threats of self-censorship and, perhaps most importantly,
about the role of media in alerting civil society to the erosion of basic rights.
Some countries are using the perceived threat of terrorism to justify new laws to stifle political opposition and free expression.
Increased police powers to monitor the communications of citizens and the collection and storage of personal data on an unprecedented and global scale are leading to the creation of a surveillance society in which the citizen is increasingly
accountable to the authorities and the state. [And authorities are less or not accountable to the citizen.]
These powers undermine democratic standards, because they are introduced in covert processes which are secretive and outside the orbit of parliamentary
accountability."
Statewatch: "It is quite outrageous that the role of the new EU internal security committee is being decided in secret by the Council. If it becomes a high-level legislative body as well being in charge of operational matters a whole swathe of decision-making and practice will be removed from democratic debate and discussion."
Watch this documentary on the Fourth Estate.
11:17:31 AM
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