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Dale Farm: broadcasters do not have to reveal eviction footage, court rule
Guardian web site - Josh Halliay
DATELINE: 17/5/12
The high court has ruled that news broadcasters including the BBC and Sky News do not have to hand over footage of the Dale Farm eviction to police. In a ruling handed down at the high court this morning, Mr Justice Eady said broadcasters did not have to disclose unbroadcast footage of the eviction to the police.The judge said that the police need clear evidence of criminality when applying for production orders against the media.
Broadcasters including BBC, Sky News and ITN – the producer of ITV News, Channel 4 News and 5 News – won the right to a judicial review after they were told by Chelmsford Crown court to hand hours of footage of the Dale Farm eviction in October last year over to the police.In his judgment on Thursday, Eady said that the Chelmsford Court decision failed to give any sufficient weight to the inhibiting effect of production orders on the press.
The ruling marks a significant victory for the media, which has campaigned strongly against being forced to disclose unbroadcast footage.
Broadcasters warned they would be seen as an extra arm of the state if they passed unaired footage to the police.Eady said in his judgment: "The interference caused by such orders cannot and should not be dismissed mainly because a small proportion of that which is filmed maybe published.
"The judge should have feared for the loss of trust in those hitherto believed to be neutral observers if such observers maybe too readily compelled to hand over their material. It is the neutrality of the press which affords them protection and augments their ability freely to obtain and disseminate visual recording of events."
Last modified: Thursday, May 17, 2012
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The NUJ and other media organisations have won the judicial review at the Court of Appeal following the decision by Chelmsford Crown Court to grant the Dale Farm footage production order. The decision to force journalists to hand over unbroadcast footage has been overturned.
Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary said: “Today is a huge victory for the cause of press freedom and the protection of sources and journalistic material. We are incredibly pleased that the NUJ and other media organisations have won the High Court battle against the police production order to force journalists to hand over their Dale Farm eviction footage.”
Jason Parkinson, NUJ member who took the case to the Court of Appeal said: "This ruling to overturn the Crown Court's decision to grant the Dale Farm production order sends a very clear message to all police forces that these wide-ranging fishing trips will not be accepted by the UK courts and that we will not be forced into to role of unwilling agents of the state. We are not there as evidence gatherers to fill police intelligence databases with hours of material on activists or protestors, we are journalists and we are there to report the news and keep the public informed.
"In the last 18 months, every time one of these orders have been served it has put journalists in greater danger while trying to report on public order situations. I know this because I have been threatened and assaulted by people claiming my material will be used by the police. I am very happy to see Judge Moses has recognised the impact these orders have had on the safety and impartiality of all journalists and has made sure any future production order applications must take this into account, as was clearly not the case this time round."
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=2510
Posted by: National Union of Journalists comments...: 17 May, 2012 12:51:17
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World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
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