title: Democratic discussion in newspaper reporting of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement.
abstract: This article presents a Habermasian analysis of newspaper reporting of the debate surrounding the effect of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (the FTA) on access to medicines through Australian patent law. Habermas's concept of the public sphere is utilised in determining whether discussion within the print media adequately conveyed complex legal issues to the public and facilitated democratic discussion. It was found that newspaper reporting generally failed to meet this standard.
authors.affiliation: Griffith Law School, Griffith University. r.sykes@griffith.edu.au
authors.forename: Robbie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sykes
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D003132:Commerce; D016527:Drug Costs; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D010330:Patents as Topic / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014481:United States