Concern over Oppression of Right To Know for American, Australian Press

Published in Asahi Shimbun
(Japan) on 17 June 2019
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Eric Stimson. Edited by Elizabeth Cosgriff.
In America and Australia, dangerous official maneuvers continue regarding the media and state secrets. For Japan, advanced countries silencing speech in the name of national security are not someone else’s business.

In May, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Julian Assange, the founder of the accused website WikiLeaks, with violating an espionage law. It criminalizes his obtaining and publicizing American war-related documents and diplomatic cables.

His source, a former soldier, was convicted and sentenced of breaking the same law. Behind Assange’s indictment is a determination to try to seal off any activities that obtain and publicize top-level secrets.

This should be seen as a serious problem that might constrict the freedom of the press guaranteed in the American Constitution. Naturally, the American media is disgusted by it.

The Justice Department emphasizes that American security was threatened by the disclosure of top secrets. It says that “Assange is no journalist” and so freedom of the press is not infringed.

But it is not up to the government to decide who is a journalist. Freedom of the press is a principle that should apply to all citizens. This is particularly so in the modern era where the spread of social media lets anyone broadcast.

While the leak of high-level secrets got on the Obama administration’s nerves, it protected the rights of the journalists who obtained this information. Yet the Trump administration calls the media “the enemy of the people,” and oppression against journalism is increasing.

Meanwhile, this month the Australian Federal Police have searched the headquarters of the public broadcaster, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and a journalist’s house. They are suspected of breaking the law against publicizing top secrets by exposing inhumane actions by the Australian military in Afghanistan and government surveillance of citizens.

The police say that the journalists could also face criminal prosecution. Officials justify this by saying that if top secrets are not safeguarded, they fear that they will be unable to share information about terrorism or public safety with friendly countries like America or Britain.

These points resemble the explanations offered by the Japanese government and ruling party in Diet debates on the State Secrecy Law and the “conspiracy” law.

Both laws were enacted by the Abe government by waving objections aside, and the State Secrecy Law also bans attempts to uncover state secrets. Anything can be considered a secret, and there is no guarantee of sufficient curbs on governmental abuse.

“Respect for freedom of research and the press” is written in its operating standards, but the danger of arbitrary operation is not eliminated. We institutions of the press must continue questioning whether the citizens’ right to know and the freedom of the press will be threatened under the pretext of counterterrorism measures.



米国とオーストラリアで、政府の機密と報道をめぐる危うい当局の動きが続いている。国の安全を理由にした先進国での言論封じの流れは、日本にとっても他人事ではない。

 米司法省は5月、告発サイト「ウィキリークス」創設者のアサンジュ被告をスパイ法違反で追起訴した。米軍の戦争関連文書や外交公電などを入手、公開したことを違法としている。

 情報源の元陸軍兵は同法違反で有罪判決を受け、刑に服した。受け手のアサンジュ被告を訴追した背景には、機密と知りながら入手・公開する活動を封じようとする考え方がある。

 これは、合衆国憲法が定めた報道の自由を狭めかねない重大な問題とみるべきだ。米メディアの反発は当然だろう。

 司法省は、機密が公開されたことで、米国の安全が脅かされたと主張する。アサンジュ被告については「ジャーナリストではない」とし、報道の自由を侵していないとしている。

 だが、誰がジャーナリストかを決めるのは政府ではない。報道の自由は市民一般に適用されるべき原則だ。ソーシャルメディアが普及し、誰もが発信できる現代では特にそうだ。

 オバマ政権下では、機密の流出に神経をとがらせながらも、情報を入手した記者の権利は守られるとの立場だった。それがトランプ政権では、メディアを「人民の敵」と公言し、記者活動への圧迫が強まっている。

 一方、オーストラリアの連邦警察は今月、公共放送ABCの本部や、新聞記者の自宅を家宅捜索した。アフガニスタンでの豪州軍による非人道行為や、政府による市民の監視を告発した報道が、機密の公表を禁じた刑法違反の疑いがあるという。

 警察によると、記者たちは刑事訴追される可能性もあるという。政府関係者は、機密が保持されなければ、米英など友好国との間でテロや治安情報の交換ができなくなる恐れがある、と正当化している。

 こうした言い分は、特定秘密保護法や「共謀罪」法の国会論議の際に、日本政府や与党が持ち出した説明と似ている。

 どちらも安倍政権が多くの異論をはねのけて成立させた法律で、特定秘密法は政府の秘密を知ろうとする行為も禁じている。何が秘密かも秘密とされ、政府による乱用への十分な歯止めも担保されていない。

 運用基準の中で「取材・報道の自由の尊重」が記されてはいるが、恣意(しい)的な運用の危険は消えていない。「テロ対策」の名目で国民の「知る権利」や報道の自由が脅かされていないか、私たち報道機関は問い続けていかねばならない。
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