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December 22  1998

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Democracy rules . . . a bit

ON THE surface, the Internet appears to be a wildly democratic medium. It all depends what you want to know though.

Even if the events of the past few days had not been as dramatic as the impeachment of a US president and a full-scale attack on Iraq, millions of people would have been well served by the latest pronouncements both official and unofficial.

In the US, the White House Web site maintains a very open page of press releases. President Clinton's address explaining the attack on Iraq was available to Web surfers almost immediately it was delivered.

In Australia, Prime Minister John Howard's site displays all his public releases. His reaction to the Iraq attack was in cyberspace within hours of him making it.

People wanting to digest the words of British Prime Minister Tony Blair about the Iraq conflict, or any other subject, possibly would have had a harder time finding them on the Web. The UK Parliament is the Mother of Parliaments, I know. However, I had a mother of a time tracking down a site similar to the White House's press releases or John Howard's official desk. To some people, the UK is a democracy in name only. This impression is emphasised when you discover the repository of official releases is held at the Central Office of Information (a name that the Kremlin would have been proud of) and that Mr Blair's statements do not seem to be there. Oh well, the BBC, the Guardian, the Times et al, cover the big events well enough to get Mr Blair's drift luckily.

The United Nations also serves up its public announcements on the Web. People who want to make sense of the Iraq attack can not only read all the UN resolutions, but also the reports of UNSCOM, the agency responsible for checking weapons.

Iraqi people have few of the above luxuries when trying to find reasons why they are dodging cruise missiles. The nation's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York is the country's only official Internet presence. It carries a page brimming with Iraq's official stance on weapons inspection. But on Sunday there did not appear to be anything related to the most recent conflagration.

The only Iraqis likely to see the mission site are expatriates, however. The BBC reported last week that not only are computers prohibited in the country by UN sanctions, but phone lines damaged in the 1991 Gulf War have never been replaced.

You may spare a thought for this technological wilderness, but such lack of information also exists much closer to home . . . at the Australian Cricket Board site. Considering the amount of flak the ACB has copped by its secrecy over the Waugh-Warne bookie scandal, you might have thought it would now be more up-front about the matter. Its official site has a section called Newsline where, according to the blurb on the page: ". . . you will find out all the latest news about the Australian team and its matches, including the official news releases from the ACB."

The latest announcement -- checked on Sunday -- was dated October 21 and concerned changes to the domestic season schedule. Not a peep about Mark Waugh and Shane Warne.

I have e-mailed the ACB twice via the feedback page about what appears to be a major omission. But so far, silence has been the stern reply.

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