Australian Parliament to probe press freedom after raids

A parliamentary committee has announced an inquiry into the impact of Australian law enforcement and intelligence powers on the press freedom following police raids on a media organization and a journalist’s home.

Australian media organizations have demanded reforms after police raided Australian Broadcasting Corp. headquarters in Sydney and the Canberra home of a News Corp. reporter in search of leaked government documents.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security announced the government had called for the inquiry based on concerns about those raids and the issue of balancing national security with the freedom of the press.

Australia’s three largest media organizations say journalists should be exempted from national security laws passed since 2012 that “would put them in jail for doing their jobs.”