Giving evidence to an inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear highlighted the need for better police training and improved enforcement of guidelines already agreed between the police, the NUJ and other news organisations.

The NUJ had already submitted written evidence to the committee’s Policing and Protest inquiry. In his oral evidence, Jeremy highlighted issues such as journalists being denied access to report on demonstrations, the removal and deletion of data and the excessive use of stop and search powers against journalists.

He also highlighted some of the violent consequences faced by journalists going about their work, including details of past physical assaults.

The committee went on to question Jeremy about the surveillance of journalists by the police’s Forward Intelligence Team, which was set up to monitor the activities of people under suspicion of criminal activities.

Click here to watch the evidence session on the UK parliament’s website

The NUJ is concerned by the increasing use of counter-terrorism legislation to obstruct journalistic activities. Jeremy gave the committee a number of examples of places and events at which the Terrorism Act has been used to stop photographers, including: the London Eye, a road traffic accident, a railway station and the switching on of the Christmas lights in Ipswich.

The union is calling on the authorities to improve the training of the police to ensure they understand their responsibility to the media and to better enforce the existing guidelines through contractual obligations.

Many of the issues covered by the evidence session are illustrated by the following film, entitled Press Freedom: “Collateral Damage”, which was released by the NUJ to highlight some of the problems journalists face.

 

If you can't view the video above, click here

22 October 2008