Today in press freedom

Q: What could be a healthier sign of the democratizing power of new media than a plug-in meant to "replace the maddening face of Tony Abbott with cute little kittens"?
A: A Freedom of Information request for correspondence about "Stop Tony Meow" within the prime minister's office!

Give us the rundown there, Sydney Morning Herald:

Staff at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet have used up more than 130 pages of correspondence talking about a web plug-in that replaces pictures of Tony Abbott with ‘‘cute kittens’’.

But after charging the program’s creator $700 for access to those pages, what they actually said is a mystery, for now.
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