Earlier today, I tweeted a video link to an ABC posting of a video, evidently of a lifeboat full of asylum seekers being towed back to Indonesia.
A couple of hours later, a few people pointed out to me that the video link no longer worked. Curious, I investigated.
The video is – (or more accurately, WAS) – to be found here. Notice that it is now private and therefore unable to be viewed?
I followed up with another tweet, and then another, wondering what value there was in taking down what seemed like a fairly significant piece of material for a journalistic organisation to run with, given the current asylum seeker debate in this country.
Almost immediately, people were pointing out that the video was still up and available. Yet, no matter what I did, YouTube continued to report the video as “private”.
It was then I realised the video really HAD been taken down, but reposted as another YouTube video:
The difference between the two?
The original one had the audio, the second one does not.
Other news organisations – (such as Al Jazeera) – reported the video as well, but not the full piece with audio that the ABC pulled down.
Others clearly heard the audio when I first posted.
So the question is, what was on the audio – (where the people on the boat were freely speaking their native tongue(s)) – that we are no longer allowed to hear?
Why ABC? Censorship?
UPDATE: (18:33) – the original version with audio was saved by geeksrulz:
Go for it internet – translate!