A new kind of censorship sweeping Malaysia is threatening journalists, critics, whistle-blowers and online news sites.  The Muhyiddin Yassin government, which came to power in March this year, has made it clear that it will not tolerate any criticism or dissent. The new strategy is to delegitimise and criminalise those who are seen as exposing, investigating or questioning anything the government is doing. It’s recent crackdowns on the media and freedom of speech are akin to actions taken by au...

The IPA’s opposition to the ABC as a fully government-funded, independent public broadcaster is well known. If the conservative, free market advocacy group had its way, the ABC would be privatised. So it’s no surprise that the IPA’s submission to the current Inquiry into Media Diversity in Australia contains a litany of derogatory claims about the public broadcaster, which the ABC strongly refutes, labelling them “inaccurate and misleading”. For more details, read the ABC’s response to the IPA’...

ABC Chair Ita Buttrose has spoken out strongly against ABC detractors in a wide-ranging speech delivered to the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation . Ms Buttrose said the ABC is crucial to maintaining a strong democracy and must be well funded. She called on the government to lift the current indexation freeze on ABC funding and to increase allocations for its emergency services broadcasting. She also said that the ABC intends to push for legislative reforms to better protect journalists and...