AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER HISTORY GROUP NEWSLETTER ISSN 1443-4962 No. 48 July 2008 Compiled for the ANHG by Rod Kirkpatrick, 59 Emperor Drive, Andergrove, Qld, 4740. Ph. +61-7-4955 7838. Email:
[email protected] The publication is independent. COPY DEADLINE AND WEBSITE ADDRESS Deadline for the next Newsletter: 30 September 2008. Subscription details appear at end of Newsletter. [Number 1 appeared October 1999.] The Newsletter is online through the ‘Publications’ link of the University of Queensland’s School of Journalism & Communication Website at www.uq.edu.au/sjc/ and through the ePrint Archives at the University of Queensland at http://espace.uq.edu.au/) New ANHG book available 12 August – see Page 20 1 – CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS: NATIONAL & METROPOLITAN 48.1.1 NEWSPAPER RAID IN THE WEST Major media organisations unanimously condemned the government-initiated police raid on the Sunday Times in Perth (see ANHG 47.1.26). Sixteen police from the Major Fraud Squad shut down the offices of the Sunday Times for four hours on 30 April while they tried to find a confidential document allegedly leaked to journalist Paul Lampathakis for a story about election funding. Western Australian Premier Alan Carpenter and his deputy Eric Ripper have denied any involvement in the raid in which the armed fraud squad officers entered the newsroom of the News Ltd newspaper, blocked the building‘s exits and searched staff. Acting on a complaint from the Department of Premier and Cabinet, police were trying to find who leaked information about a government decision to spend $16 million of taxpayers‘ money on an advertising campaign, allegedly intended to help Labor‘s bid for re-election.