Investigative reporter, family attacked
Title -- 3816 AUSTRALIA: Investigative reporter, family attacked
Date -- 27 October 2002
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 25/10/2
Status -- Unabridged
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INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER ATTACKED
Sydney Morning Herald report:
www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/24/1035416929499.html
NEW YORK, October 25, 2002: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
condemns the recent attack on journalist Hedley Thomas and his family at
their home in Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia. Thomas is a reporter
with the Courier-Mail, a national daily.
At about 10:30 p.m. on October 23, an unidentified gunman fired four shots
at Thomas' home, according to Australian media reports. No one was injured,
although one bullet missed Thomas' wife, Ruth Mathewson, by only inches. The
couple's two children, aged 18 months and 3 years, were sleeping at the time
of the attack.
Police have created a task force to investigate the attack but have not yet
determined a motive or suspects.
Thomas is an award-winning investigative journalist whose reports have
uncovered wrongdoing in the legal and real estate industries. Most recently,
he wrote a series of articles about corruption among lawyers. Thomas
received a death threat by telephone last year, according to a report in the
Courier-Mail. He and his family are currently in a safe house under police
protection.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom around the world. For more information about press
freedom conditions in Asia, visit www.cpj.org.
*************************
Committee to Protect Journalists
330 Seventh Avenue, 12th floor
New York, NY 10001
Tel: 212-465-1004
Fax: 212-465-9568
E-mail: asia@cpj.org
Web: www.cpj.org
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