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Media Release

September 12 2003

New media technologies put the famous in the hot seat

New media, new technologies make it hard for people to keep secrets these days so it is little wonder that caution and fear surround the archiving and release of public records by today's political figures.

This will be the focus of a paper on the secret recordings of private conversations by six US Presidents at the Famous People: Famous Collections National Conference hosted by UniSA’s Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library, in Adelaide this week.

Dr Kym McCauley, lecturer in Information and Knowledge Management at the University of Technology, Sydney will explore the challenges facing information professionals in managing the electronic materials left by our public figures, in an environment heavily influenced by factors such as powerful and speedy new communication technologies, a heightened level of public interest in private lives and the reticence of our public and political figures.

McCauley will highlight issues of privacy and public record as he questions the increased caution by famous people in keeping and releasing documents and its impact on future appraisals of how contemporary leaders made critical decisions in times of crisis.

According to McCauley, the multimedia records of John Howard's term in office may give historians a clearer view of his day-to-day decision-making than that of Winston Churchill's or Robert Menzies' archives.

“We have detailed, secret private recordings and transcripts of John F. Kennedy's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis and Lyndon B. Johnson's escalation of the US involvement in Vietnam. It is unlikely however that we will have a similar record of the decision-making processes that led John Howard to involve Australian troops in Iraq,” said Dr McCauley.

"At a time when the public demands transparency and openness in the keeping of records and archives, public figures may need to put a muzzle on their families and aides to ensure that there will be no public record of how these crucial events unfolded on a personal level.

“With the publication of private phone calls made by those who died on September 11 or the 'black-box' recordings of airline disasters, those who seek public office may not have such strong grounds for objecting to recordings of their decision making processes during crucial events," suggests Dr McCauley.

His paper asks the question: Are recordings of private conversations made in public office an invaluable record of these processes or a gross invasion of individuals' privacy?

Dr McCauley will deliver his paper at the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library Conference on Monday September 15 at 2.15 at the Quality Hotel Rockford, Hindley Street.

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