澳大利亚警方在泄漏调查中从航空公司获得了记者的旅行记录

作者：Isabella Kwai

导读：报道称，澳大利亚警方从澳洲航空公司获得了一名记者的个人旅行记录。该记者曾在2017年撰文称澳大利亚军方在阿富汗犯下了战争罪行。警方的行为引发了对该国新闻自由的进一步担忧。

澳大利亚联邦警察从Qantas Airways获得了一名记者的个人旅行记录，这一消息在周一警方突击搜查记者后引发了媒体行业的警觉，这引发了对该国新闻自由的质疑。

“悉尼先驱晨报”获得的一份文件显示，警方于3月份向该航空公司寻求旅行记录，寻找一名撰写2017年文章的记者，该文章声称澳大利亚军方已对阿富汗公民犯下可能的战争罪。

据报道，澳航官员应警方的要求在2016年搜索了两个航班的详细信息，并“捕获并打印”了这些旅行的详细信息。这一要求引起了媒体集团的尖锐批评。

澳大利亚新闻记者，媒体，娱乐和艺术联盟联盟的首席执行官保罗墨菲说：“感觉新闻业在这个国家受到了攻击。” “没有考虑到记者在一个运作良好的民主国家中发挥的重要作用。”

他补充说，这一事件再次表明，澳大利亚联邦警察和执法机构以记者和举报人为目标已成为“正常做法”。

“我们需要政府采取紧急行动来保护知情权，”墨菲先生补充道。

在一个罕见的统一事件中，来自该国最大新闻机构的媒体高管呼吁进行改革，以保护新闻自由，这是在上个月两次警方突击搜查——一次是在新闻集团记者的家中，另一次是在澳大利亚广播公司的总部。 。

获得旅行记录的记者丹尼尔奥克斯是ABC团队的一员，该团队发表了“ 阿富汗档案 ”，这是一篇基于泄露的军事文件的2017年文章，该文件描述了澳大利亚武装部队在阿富汗的潜在战争罪行。

去年，政府通过了全面的立法，其中包括对泄露机密或秘密信息的更严厉处罚。法律规定政府官员披露此类信息是非法的，在某些情况下，记者也可以接收这些信息。“阿富汗档案”文件背后的所谓举报人，曾是一名军事律师，已经确认自己并且正面临指控。

联邦警方发言人周一拒绝就扣押旅行记录发表评论，称调查仍在继续。

澳航发言人周一在一份声明中表示，该航空公司收到执法机构提出的大量信息请求。她说，航空公司没有被告知此类请求中的乘客占用情况，仅提供有关接受刑事调查的乘客的信息。

关于扣押旅行记录的启示恰逢议会对2015年颁布的法律进行审查，要求电信公司保留两年的互联网和电话数据，以便执法部门进行刑事调查。

澳大利亚联邦警察局提交的文件显示，根据2015年的法律，该机构在2018年6月结束的一年期间内获得了两次信息保证，并访问了58次记者的通讯数据。目前尚不清楚哪些记者是针对性的但这些文件引起了业内人士对隐私来源的进一步关注。

澳大利亚司法部长克里斯蒂安•波特（Christian Porter）表示，除了最特殊的情况外，他“严重不愿意”起诉记者。

珀斯科廷大学新闻学副教授约瑟夫·费尔南德斯说，政府的行为和言论之间仍存在“令人担忧的鸿沟”。

费尔南德斯博士说，在国际舞台上，这种警察活动与澳大利亚拥有透明民主的声誉不一致，并且可能“鼓励其他压迫性政府”。

他补充说：“在维护基本权利和自由方面，我们严重损害了我们的信誉。”

原文：

Australian Police Obtained Journalist’s Travel Records From Airline in Leak Inquiry

By Isabella Kwai

The Australian federal police obtained from Qantas Airways the personal travel records of a journalist, a revelation that alarmed the media industry on Monday after police raids on journalists last month raised questions about press freedoms in the country.

A document obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald showed that the police approached the airline in March seeking travel records for a journalist who wrote a 2017 article alleging that the Australian military had committed possible war crimes against Afghan citizens.

A Qantas officer then searched for details of two flights in 2016 at the request of the police, and “captured and printed” details of the trips, the paper said. The request drew sharp criticism from media groups.

“The feeling is that journalism is under attack in this country,” said Paul Murphy, chief executive of the Australian union for journalists, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. “There is no regard for the important role journalists play in a functioning democracy.”

The incident was another sign that it had become “normal practice” for the federal police and law enforcement agencies in Australia to target journalists and whistle-blowers, he added.

“We need urgent action from government to protect the right to know,” Mr. Murphy added.

In a rare instance of unity, media executives from the country’s biggest news organizations have called for reforms to protect press freedom after two police raids last month — one on the home of a News Corp. journalist and another at the headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The journalist whose travel records were obtained, Daniel Oakes, was part of an ABC team that published “The Afghan Files,” a 2017 article based on leaked military documents that described potential war crimes by Australian armed forces in Afghanistan.

Last year, the government passed sweeping legislation that included harsher penalties for leaking classified or secret information. The law made it illegal for government officials to disclose such information and in some cases, for journalists to receive it. The alleged whistle-blower behind the “Afghan Files” documents, a former military lawyer, has already identified himself and is facing charges.

A spokeswoman for the federal police declined to comment Monday on the seizure of the travel records, saying the investigation is continuing.

A Qantas spokeswoman said in a statement on Monday that the airline receives numerous requests for information from law enforcement agencies. She said the airline is not informed about the occupation of passengers in such requests and provides information only on passengers who are subject to a criminal investigation.

The revelation about the seizure of the travel records coincides with a parliamentary review of laws enacted in 2015 requiring telecommunication companies to retain internet and phone data for two years for law enforcement to access in criminal investigations.

Documents submitted by the Australian Federal Police show that, under the 2015 laws, the agency obtained two information warrants and accessed the communications data of journalists on 58 occasions in a one-year period ending in June 2018. It is not clear which journalists were targeted, but the documents stoked further concern in the industry about the privacy of sources.

Christian Porter, Australia’s attorney general, has said that he is “seriously disinclined” to prosecute journalists except in the most exceptional of circumstances.

Still, there is a “worrying chasm” between the government’s actions and its words, said Joseph Fernandez, an associate professor of journalism at Curtin University in Perth.

On an international stage, such police activity is at odds with Australia’s reputation for having a transparent democracy, and could “embolden other oppressive governments,” Dr. Fernandez said.

“We are seriously undermining our credibility when it comes to upholding basic rights and freedoms,” he added.