Freedom of the press' has come to mean the right of journalists to wantonly attack ideas, groups, industries and individuals with impunity and to mock views and misrepresent beliefs they despise. Unfortunately Australia is not alone in having an appalling press corps. Journalistic credibility has reached such an appalling low in America that a survey, conducted by the Louis Harris Organization for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, found that 53 percent of people favour the licensing of journalists. Not only is this a drastic proposal it is also inimical to a free society. But it is the totally dishonest behaviour of so many journalists that has disillusioned a great proportion of the American public.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the same situation exists here.
Fortunately the solution has already arrived, not in the form of licensing but in new technology. The internet is bringing about the necessary changes and will eventually apply the pressure that will break the journalists media grip. And this will give real meaning to the concept of a 'free press'.