1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,640 Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to the daily ours. Today is Thursday, 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:07,400 Speaker 1: the ninth of September. I'm Zara Sidelight, joined by Sam Kozlowski, 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: who will take you through the day's news. Before that, 4 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: let's quickly cover off on the COVID numbers from yesterday. 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: In Victoria there were two hundred and twenty one new cases. 6 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: In New South Wales there were fourteen hundred and eighteen 7 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: new cases, and in the Act there were twenty news. 8 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 2: Yesterday, in some long awaited good news for Regional Victoria, 9 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 2: the lockdown in that area will lift at eleven fifty 10 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 2: nine pm tonight, with the exception of Greater Shepherdon. Under 11 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 2: these changes, the five reasons to leave home will be 12 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 2: removed and schools will reopen for prep to Grade two 13 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 2: and year twelve students who live in Regional Victoria. Here's 14 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,919 Speaker 2: a bit of clarification around the exception of Greater Sheperdon. 15 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,479 Speaker 3: On Sheperdon, we would hope to have Sheperdon catch up 16 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 3: to the rest of Regional Victoria sometime next week, and 17 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 3: we'll make those announcements as soon as we have just 18 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 3: tidied up the last bits of the outbreak there. 19 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: Mexico Supreme Court ruled that penalizing abortion is unconstitutional, which 20 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: by virtue, is decriminalizing abortion. The decision now means courts 21 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: can no longer prosecute abortion cases, with a Supreme Court 22 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: justice saying it's a watershed in the history of the 23 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: rights of all women, especially the most vulnerable. A demonstrator 24 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: who was interviewed after the decision was made said, we're 25 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: very happy that abortion has been decriminalized, and now we 26 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: want it to be legal. This step has broken the 27 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 1: stigma a little, but I believe that we still have 28 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: to change the social aspect. 29 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 2: It's one of those stories that seems to capture the 30 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,680 Speaker 2: attention of pretty much everyone on our Instagram. Britney Spears's father, 31 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 2: Jamie Spears, filed a petition to terminate his conservatorship, where 32 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:45,119 Speaker 2: he has been the conservator of his daughter since two 33 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 2: thousand and eight. The move comes after an appeal from 34 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 2: miss Spears to end the conservatorship, where she'd previously said 35 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 2: I just want my life back. Judge Brenda Penny, who 36 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 2: oversees the case, will need to approve the move before 37 00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 2: the conservatorship officially ends. 38 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: The good news comes from America, where three quarters or 39 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 1: seventy five percent of the US population has received at 40 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: least one dose of the COVID nineteen vaccine. CDC data 41 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: also shows that sixty four percent of US adults are 42 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: fully vaccinated. 43 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 2: So yesterday the High Court of Australia made a really 44 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 2: important ruling that will influence how the Facebook pages from 45 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 2: your news organizations work. Let me give you the really 46 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 2: short explanation of the essence of this ruling. It basically 47 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 2: means that publishers like The Daily Os are liable for 48 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 2: comments underneath a news story. 49 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,239 Speaker 1: Before we explore what this actually means for the media, 50 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:43,839 Speaker 1: Sam take me through the case and how it ended 51 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 1: up in the High Court. 52 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 2: So we're going back to twenty seventeen where a young 53 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 2: man called Dylan Volla, who was a detainee in the 54 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 2: Northern Territori's youth detention system, launch defamation proceedings against Nine 55 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 2: News Corporation and The Australian News Channel in twenty seventeen 56 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 2: and he sued the over third party comments about him 57 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 2: that were made under articles that they had published to 58 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,639 Speaker 2: their Facebook page. Basically, the key accusation being made by 59 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 2: mister Vola was that the news publishers are responsible for 60 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 2: the type of content that's underneath their articles, So if 61 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 2: a defamatory remark was made about him, that it's actually 62 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 2: the responsibility of nine NewsCorp or the Australian News Channel 63 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 2: to moderate that section of the Internet. Over the next 64 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:28,239 Speaker 2: couple of years, the decision flip flopped around the different 65 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 2: levels of our court system. So it went to the 66 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 2: New South Wales Court of Appeals, It then went to 67 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 2: the Federal Court and finally the High Court, and that's 68 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 2: where we find ourselves today. 69 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: So, given this is a pretty landmark decision, what was 70 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 1: the framework that existed before yesterday? How did content moderation 71 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: and all of that work prior to this landmark decision? 72 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 2: So media publishers in Australia always knew that they were 73 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 2: liable for comments underneath their articles, but that was only 74 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 2: at a point where they were made aware of the comment. 75 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 2: So a media organization needed to make make sure they 76 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 2: had the right protocols in place to escalate comments and 77 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 2: to have moderation in place so that defamatory material wasn't 78 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 2: left up there. But the important part to this is 79 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 2: that the media company only became liable for the comments 80 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 2: when they became aware of the comments, So to think 81 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 2: about it in a really simple way. If the editor 82 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 2: and publisher and every single other of the news organization 83 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 2: was asleep, then they only became liable when they woke 84 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 2: up and read it, not in those hours when they 85 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 2: were asleep, but the comment was still up there. Now 86 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 2: there's a danger there of that being a slightly oversimplified explanation, 87 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 2: but the key message you need to remember is that 88 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 2: it's when they became aware of the content. 89 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: So, with all that in mind, what changed yesterday and 90 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: what does that all mean now? 91 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 2: The court basically ruled that comments made underneath the news 92 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 2: article are part of the publishing of that post by 93 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 2: the news organization. It doesn't matter if somebody else publishes 94 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 2: the comment, you're still publishing the article. Importantly, what this 95 00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 2: means is that a news organization is liable for a 96 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 2: comment that's published on a piece as soon as it's published, 97 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 2: not when they become aware of it. I really like 98 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 2: to think about this all like a physical wall. And 99 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 2: let's say that as a news organization we own a building. Now, 100 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 2: the rules before were that if somebody came in graffiti 101 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 2: that wall and said zaras Smelli, that we were only 102 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 2: liable for that when we did our routine inspection of 103 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 2: the building in the morning and saw that comment from there, 104 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 2: we were expected to escalate that internally, to flag it 105 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 2: and to ultimately take it down. Now we're liable for 106 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 2: that graffiti that was done at two am on the 107 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:35,719 Speaker 2: building from two am. It's a really really interesting scenario 108 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 2: where I think most news organizations, to protect themselves, are 109 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:41,360 Speaker 2: going to end up turning off the comment section of 110 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 2: their posts. 111 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:47,160 Speaker 1: That, of course, has pretty significant implications for the free 112 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:51,040 Speaker 1: speech movement in Australia and how we understand open and 113 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: free dialogue in this country. 114 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,840 Speaker 2: One other interesting point to mention really quickly is that 115 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 2: in the court's decision they particularly highlighted the fact that 116 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:01,480 Speaker 2: there's been a lot of this year about the money 117 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 2: that organizations are trying to get out of Facebook, and 118 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 2: they kind of made this argument in their reasoning that well, 119 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 2: if you're going to expect to get money out of 120 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 2: these platforms, then you also need to take responsibility for 121 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 2: your content and what comes off that. And I thought 122 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,599 Speaker 2: that was a really interesting, very very twenty twenty one 123 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 2: argument to make about media in Australia. 124 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,039 Speaker 1: It's not every day that Sam gets to fuse his 125 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: two passions the media and the law. So let us 126 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: know if you have any other questions about this ruling 127 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: because it is significant and it will impact the way 128 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 1: that you see media publishers online and especially on Facebook. 129 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: That is all we have time for today, However, a 130 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 1: heads up that we are expecting an announcement from the 131 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:48,479 Speaker 1: Premiere at eleven today about what freedoms might look like 132 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:50,960 Speaker 1: in New South Wales, so don't forget to check in 133 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,599 Speaker 1: on our Instagram then to see what we have in store. 134 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: You'll be joining over two hundred and ten thousand other 135 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:58,559 Speaker 1: young Aussies who get their news from the Daily Oos 136 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: every day and we would love to welcomute to our community.