| |
|
Home
Current Issue
Archive
About the Journal
Author Guidelines
ADBR Competition
Subscribe
Contact
Kokoda Foundation
|
|
Counter-Terrorism Laws and the Media:
National Security and the Control of Information
Author: Lawrence McNamara
Volume 5, Number 3 (Spring 2009), pp. 95-115.
Abstract
Liberal democracies presently struggle with the need to balance the demands
of national security with traditional commitments to media freedom. The
enactment of counter-terrorism laws since 2001 has seen the state expand its
ability to control information. This article examines that expansion,
drawing on interviews with journalists and lawyers to consider the potential
and actual effects of the laws. It argues that the strongest, most direct
effects relate to the reporting of court proceedings. The laws have not
yet, it seems, had a chilling effect, but they have brought about
apprehension and caution. Even if not causally affecting the flow of
information, the laws remain an important part of the context in which
information is controlled or limited by other means. When viewed side by
side, the combination of these effects suggests that the degree of control
over information does not necessarily correspond with the presence or degree
of legal regulation.
About the Author
The author is a Reader in Law at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. He holds an ESRC/AHRC Fellowship in Ideas and Beliefs 2009-12 under which he is working on a major research programme titled ‘Law, Terrorism and the Right to Know’. l.mcnamara@reading.ac.uk..
|
|
