AAP closure and AFP raids see Australia slide in World Press Freedom Index

April 23, 2020 8:58

‘Investigative journalism is in danger’ in Australia according to the World Press Freedom Index.

The 2020 report from Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres) put Australia in 26th place – a five-spot drop from 2019, largely based on last year’s Australian Federal Police (AFP) raids and the closure of the AAP newswire.

“In 2019, Australian journalists became more aware than ever of the fragility of press freedom in their country, whose constitutional law contains no press freedom guarantees and recognizes no more than an ‘implied freedom of political communication’,” read the report accompanying the data.

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Hannah Blackiston

Hannah Blackiston was the deputy editor of Mumbrella. She worked with the company from March 2019 to November 2020.

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