» SubscribeMain section
-
Top story
GCHQ whistleblower charged
137/Barry White
Britain's draconian Official Secrets Act is being used yet again against a whistleblower who has revealed wrongdoing and illegality.Katharine Gun a former translator at GCHQ in Cheltenham is due to appear at Bow Street magistrates court on 27 November (as we went to press). She has been charged under section 1 (1) of the act, which deals with the disclosure of 'any information' without authority. She was arrested in March 2003, but was only charged on 13 November, some eight months later. Her 'crime' was to reveal that the Americans had asked British intelligence to help in an illegal operation gathering information from countries whose votes were needed for a second UN resolution to authorise war in Iraq.
Her allegations were published in The Observer. Katharine Gun believes she acted in the public interest by making the disclosures: ' I have only ever followed by conscience' she said in an interview reported in The Guardian.
Her arrest was a year, almost to the day, after David Shayler was sentenced to a term of imprisonment for passing classified information and documents to the press. The legal precedents arising from David's case and the
continuing lack of any public interest defence, means that Katharine is likely to get short shrift from the courts.
Campaigners for press freedom and civil liberties should be united in their support for the brave stand taken by Katharine Gun. Once again the spotlight falls on New Labour who, when in opposition called for a public interest defence in such cases. And the government also needs to come clean on whether the security services actually did help the United States spy on certain UN delegations.
STOP PRESS
At Bow Street magistrates’ court on November 27 Katharine Gun entered a ‘not guilty’ plea. She was granted bail to appear again on Monday January 19 2004.
Last modified: Monday, December 8, 2003
Previous miscellany stories
MEDIA MONITOR - Amusing Ourselves to Death
MEDIA MONITOR - Stifling Dissent
MEDIA MONITOR -Goodman’s Memoirs
Without Comment
Powell’s Rules
USA Conference Challenges Corporate Media
PLATFORM - A Safe Pair of Hands?
REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media distortion in the Attack on Iraq, ed. by David Miller ,Pluto £12.99
Labour’s TV Policies: Book Launch
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T
BENIGN DICTATORSHIP
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH AND BEEBWATCH
THE DOTTY & BARMY WATCHDOG
The Murdoch Dossier
BCT PIPELINE PROTEST
LAKENHEATH TRESPASS DAY
NO NEW OIL DAYSCHOOL
Oil, war and climate change: dismantling the oil economy.
FREE CAMPAIGN POSTCARDS
Weapons of Mass Deception - the uses of propaganda in Bush's war on Iraq
Free Press 135
Editorial: The Assault on the BBC
COMPETITIVE PRESSURES
PLATFORM: COMMERCIAL PRESSURES ON ITN
Television impartiality or Biased News?
Journalism Studies
ACCESS FOR ALL OR ACCESS DENIED?
No drinking up time at the Last Chance Saloon
Plaudits for Presswise
-
Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
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.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
-
Previous stories
Miscellany
MEDIA MONITOR - Amusing Ourselves to Death
MEDIA MONITOR - Stifling Dissent
MEDIA MONITOR -Goodman’s Memoirs
Without Comment
Powell’s Rules
USA Conference Challenges Corporate Media
PLATFORM - A Safe Pair of Hands?
REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media distortion in the Attack on Iraq, ed. by David Miller ,Pluto £12.99
Labour’s TV Policies: Book Launch
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T
BENIGN DICTATORSHIP
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH AND BEEBWATCH
THE DOTTY & BARMY WATCHDOG
The Murdoch Dossier
BCT PIPELINE PROTEST
LAKENHEATH TRESPASS DAY
NO NEW OIL DAYSCHOOL
Oil, war and climate change: dismantling the oil economy.
FREE CAMPAIGN POSTCARDS
Weapons of Mass Deception - the uses of propaganda in Bush's war on Iraq
Free Press 135
Editorial: The Assault on the BBC
COMPETITIVE PRESSURES
PLATFORM: COMMERCIAL PRESSURES ON ITN
Television impartiality or Biased News?
Journalism Studies
ACCESS FOR ALL OR ACCESS DENIED?
No drinking up time at the Last Chance Saloon
Plaudits for Presswise
