fp174:Free Press template changed fonts.qxd 17/02/2010 20:02 Page 1 FREE Press No 174 January-February 2010 £1 Journal of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom Press will HERE COMES set terms THE MEDIA of debate by Nicholas Jones

Online participation in this year’s general election is certain to set a new benchmark for the web’s influence on ELECTION political debate but the British blogosphere will be hard pressed to ● lot will hang for media policy in match the impact achieved in the Can the UK keep the public the coming UK general election. campaigning for and against President service broadcasting that These questions (left) are just the Obama. biggest: there are uncertainties Unlike the US, where television and people want? Will the BBC too around cross-platform publi- radio are dominant news providers cationA as the Digital Economy Bill strug- along with the internet, Britain has a licence fee be safe and its gles through parliament, before the elec- powerful national press which regularly digital services be free to tion even starts. calls the shots and commands the news There is also the growing intimacy agenda. expand? Or will they be cut between the Conservative leadership Much of the traffic generated by back to benefit commercial and the still-powerful Murdoch cross- blogs and social networking sites is a media group, the biggest in Europe. response to the storylines of the daily competitors? To determine campaigning priorities papers and it still tends to be the press and the questions to put to the parties, rather than the internet which retains the CPBF is preparing a Media the clout to transform online chatter ● Can local and regional Manifesto, for circulation in both print into mainstream news. and online versions: a compact publica- While the established media can only news be maintained or will it tion focusing on issues to place in the observe what is said on the internet – be abandoned to the mercies political debate. and has no control over where an It is a time of extreme political and argument might end up – the of the corporations that are Turn to page 2 Turn to back page bringing it to the brink of extinction? Will there be PHOTOGRAPHERS SNAP BACK funding or incentives for start-ups to replace them, How they defend press and how would they be freedom on the streets financed? PAGES 4-5 JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK ● What kind of media ADS IN THE PROGRAMMES regulation will remain? Will Product placement is coming to commercial TV commercial broadcasting be PAGE 6 released from its public obligations? Will there still be Ofcom, or something worse? GO TO WWW.CPBF.ORG.UK FOR ALL CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Ownership ELECTION CAMPAIGN From page one

economic instability. The weak perform- ance of the UK economy has rocked media companies and decimated their workforces. What will be the economic climate for new media? Things could get Big media even worse. A few more questions:

PARTIAL OR IMPARTIAL NEWS The Conservatives have plans to relax the long-standing statutory requirement that UK broadcast news must be impar- tial. John Ryley, the head of Sky News – controlled by David Cameron’s best friends in the Murdoch empire – said just want to recently: “I no longer want to be subject- ed to the controlling hand of a regulator armed with a set of codes and sanc- tions.” Can Fox News UK be on the way?

THE LOCAL NEWS CONSORTIA As ITV jettisons its public service obli- gation to provide local and regional news there is a government programme to replace it – and supplement the dwin- get bigger dling service from the press – with regional multi-media Independently Financed News Consortia (IFNCs). At times of economic crisis the response Three pilots are planned but shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has con- of media companies is predictable, firmed they would be stopped; he wants the sector left to the market. How will says GRANVILLE WILLIAMS. It’s ‘cut local and regional news continue to thrive? back and merge’ – and get rid of any THE FUTURE OF ITN regulations that stand in their way ITN provides the news for ITV and C4 (Sky provides the news for C5). The cur- e have been given it pendent journalism sustained through rent contract with ITV expires in 2012. straight: government should commercial activity and argued “the Will ITN survive as a provider of high- relax rules on media own- only reliable, durable, and perpetual quality national and international news, ership, limit their funding guarantor of independence is profit”. in vital competition with the BBC? and restrict new services by Did he have Fox News in mind? publicW service broadcasters, and tear In fact James Murdoch’s BSkyB is REGULATION OF THE MEDIA up tiresome restrictive regulations. the largest TV company in Europe; the How can the Press Complaints Remember James Murdoch’s tirade parent News Corporation has annual Commission, a creature of the national against the BBC, Ofcom, impartiality revenues of $30 billion (with this press, be made effective and independ- in broadcast news and other targets in year’s results likely to be boosted by ent? The Conservatives want to rein his speech to the Edinburgh the relentless cross-promotion in back Ofcom – the Murdochs don’t like it Television Festival in August 2009? Murdoch media of the film Avatar, – but what sort of body might regulate He talked of “a land-grab, pure and produced by its film company, 20th our converged communications media? simple, going on – and in the interests Century Fox). Who’s the behemoth of a free society it should be sternly now? PRESS FREEDOM resisted. The land grab is spearhead- Just before Christmas the pace of The libel laws are under attack as sel- ed by the BBC. The scale and scope of consolidation quickened, with the dom before, with growth of libel tourism its current activities and future ambi- Disney Company’s acquisition of in London and the gross profiteering of tions is chilling”. Marvel Entertainment Inc, and law firms that benefit from it. The gov- He contrasted the BBC’s “state- Comcast, the largest American cable ernment wants to cut them back, but sponsored journalism” with inde- services provider, taking control of what will happen after the election? NBC, acquiring a 51 per cent stake from its existing owner, General The CPBF Media Manifesto will be BSkyB is the largest TV Electric. It means that the production aimed at raising awareness of the and distribution of TV and films to importance of the media as an election company in Europe; the parent millions of homes will be controlled issue. When it comes out in March it by one company. will be circulated around the mem- News Corporation has annual In the UK we have seen a push by bers, groups and unions in the CPBF. It media groups to revise ownership will be online and supporters should revenues of $30 billion. rules and jettison restrictive regula- spread it and get the debates going far tion. In difficult economic times, local and wide. Who’s the behemoth now? and regional newspaper groups, ITV

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Ownership

and local radio stations all argue that current affairs rooted within Granada which excited, amused, the solution was consolidation and an communities – you can see with your challenged and inspired. From the end to regulation. own eyes. 1990s you witness a terrible falling off A prominent proponent of this view Go and visit the exhibition in talent, innovation and memorable is the media analyst Claire Enders, Manchester: Television and The City: programmes as a distinctive broad- who wrote in the January issue of Ghosts of Winter Hill on at Urbis caster is collapsed into the single ITV Wired magazine: “Now is the time to Manchester until April 2010; Winter brand. That’s media consolidation for ditch regulation of the broadcasting Hill is a transmitter for the Granada you. sector altogether ... We should allow region in Lancashire. market forces to act unimpeded with- Arranged in a series of period sit- Granville Williams is a former editor in the commercial sector, and leave ting rooms you can watch extracts of Free Press and author of Britain’s public service broadcasting to the from a stream of programming by Media: How They Are Related BBC”. The CPBF take a very different view. Positive regulation protects viewers and listeners from a tide of commercialism. Media consolidation, News Corp has to pay up whether in ITV or regional newspapers, has served viewers and upert Murdoch’s perpetual aggres- rival company, Valassis, which in readers badly. sive strategy for his News 2006 launched a legal action, accusing As groups like Johnston Press, RCorporation to dominate all its NA of anticompetitive behaviour. Newsquest and Trinity Mirror markets has suffered a couple of seri- Now News Corporation has acquired more and more newspapers ous setbacks around legal cases in the announced it will pay $500 million to the resources which should have been UK and US. Valassis. “It has become evident to our invested in journalism were diverted In Britain, BSkyB has thrown in the legal advisors from pre-trial proceed- in the good times to boost shareholder towel after a two-year battle to prevent ings over the past couple of weeks that profits. the forced sale of part of its share in significant risks were developing in And what about ITV? The new ITV ITV. After losing four rounds of legal presenting this case to a jury,” said boss, former Tory MP Archie Norman, challenges it put 10 per cent of its con- News Corporation Deputy Chairman acting in tandem with Murdoch’s tentious stake on the market in Chase Carey. BSkyB, wants to set up a coalition to February. In plain English that means they lobby for the further deregulation of BSkyB retains its remaining share- didn’t have a leg to stand on and it the broadcast industry. holding of just under 7.5 per cent – was better to pay up than risk losing If you want the evidence of what the maximum allowed by the more going through the courts. has been lost by media consolidation Competition Commission when it In a separate case that was settled and deregulation – diversity in pro- ruled that the company had too much last year, NA was sued by another gramming, the disappearance of hard- influence over its main commercial competitor, Floorgraphics, for alleged hitting critical journalism, drama and TV competitor. corporate spying. Just as witnesses The stake was bought in a sudden began testifying, News Corporation swoop in 2006 to block a potential settled the lawsuit – and days later Positive regulation protects takeover of ITV by cable company bought the company outright for an NTL, now part of Virgin Media. It paid undisclosed sum. viewers and listeners from a 135p a share. Now the price is 52p, In a court filing, Floorgraphics said and the adventure has cost the that NA had “illegally accessed plain- tide of commercialism. Media Murdochs as much as £500 million. tiff’s computer system and obtained ● In the US, a NewsCorp subsidiary, proprietary information from the com- consolidation has served News America Marketing (NA), does- puter system” and “disseminated n’t quite dominate the market for pub- false, misleading and malicious infor- viewers and readers badly lishing newspaper inserts. There is a mation about the plaintiff.” IT IS. WILL IT STAY THAT WAY? The Independent’s advertising slogan worked. But the editor of another of cannot invest the money outside for its launch in 1986 was: “It is. Are his papers, the Moscow business Russia, but it means that the You?” weekly Kompaniya, was fired after relationship between them is not as But what if Alexander Lebedev, the criticising President Vladimir Putin’s sharp as made out publicly. Russian billionaire who acquired a 75 handling of the Beslan school siege in Could it be that the quid pro quo per cent stake in the Evening North Ossetia. for Putin assisting Lebedev Standard for £1 last year, takes it Alexander Lebedev’s business financially is an agreement that if he over, as he is negotiating with owners interests have suffered in the acquires the Independent titles he Independent News and Media (INM) recession and he has just sold his goes soft on the reporting of Russia? to do? stake in the airline Aeroflot and an Talks on the takeover have stalled. Alexander Lebedev has a mixed aircraft leasing company back to the The original deadline of February 15 record on press freedom. Russian government for £450 million, has been missed, but analysts still He funds Novaya Gazeta, the in a deal sanctioned by the now prime expect it to go through by late March. bravely independent opposition minister Putin. INM holds its annual meeting then newspaper where the murdered The deal has been reported to carry and its shareholders are desperate to journalist Anna Politkovskaya a condition that Alexander Lebedev sell.

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TV advertising Two pints of Heineken and a packet of Walkers Look out for the big brands The UK commercial TV lobby came in The viewer would then have embedded hard on the then culture secretary Andy advertising without greater spending on cropping up in popular British Burnham. He said “no”, but his call to programmes; the same money going to programmes, says “preserve editorial integrity as technology worse use. advances” was not to last long. In There may be a narrow economic case JONATHAN HARDY. September his successor Ben Bradshaw for PP as a source of “additional” revenue announced he was reviewing the deci- – though Ofcom’s estimate of £30 million American-style TV is coming sion. “Product placement is not a big a year in five years shows how modest deal”, his junior minister Sion Simon told the gains may be – and this is without f you had watched NBC’s Jay Leno a CPBF delegation. considering the cost to the credibility of Show in the US every night last year In February, after a brief public consul- broadcasting of removing restrictions on Iyou would have seen four commercial tation and even briefer deliberation, Ben how marketers pay to promote products. products promoted live in each pro- Bradshaw announced it would go ahead. The DCMS consultation, to which the gramme. Jay Leno topped the “product But the argument that, without PP, British CPBF submitted evidence, identified such placement” (PP) ratings for 2009 with no TV will be less competitive in internation- issues of concern as the proper identifica- fewer than 1,015 mentions. tion for viewers, maintaining edito- Companies like Coca-Cola, Ford and rial independence, and ensuring McDonalds routinely pay for gratu- that the rules on junk food, alcohol itous references in the top-rating US and other advertising are not entire- entertainment shows, providing ly undermined if marketers can brands with uncritical, promotional- bypass them by paying for place- ly friendly environments. ments. This long list hardly corrobo- The “best” product placement in rates Ben Bradshaw’s claim that lib- 2009, according to the ratings agency eralising PP amounted to removing Nielsen’s brand opinion index, was “regulation for regulation’s sake”. fast-food chain Subway for NBC’s The powerful commercial inter- The Biggest Loser – a slimming ests who failed to convince Andy show, which came second after Jay Burnham have triumphed, but there Leno in 2009 with 704 placements – has been strong opposition from described by an enthusiastic trade churches, children’s charities, teach- journal as a “seamless fit”. In a ing unions, health bodies like the placement in the series Chuck (NBC BMA, and media freedom groups again!), a lead character repeated like the CPBF. Subway’s ad message “$5 foot-longs” Ben Bradshaw has made one con- while delivering one of its sandwich- cession, that PP will not be allowed es to his boss. for alcohol, food high in fat, sugar or Now PP is coming to the UK, and salt, gambling, smoking products, similar entertainment shows, togeth- over-the-counter medicines or baby er with soaps and dramas, will be The interests who failed to convince food. While welcome, it does not the principal vehicles, and no doubt exhaust the list of advertising rules incorporate the same global brands. Andy Burnham have triumphed, but that PP undermines, such as those Current UK regulations allow only concerning cars, speed and danger- the unpaid supply of “props”. there has been strong opposition ous driving, and it fails to address Commercial references are subject to the wider damage of blurring com- rules against “undue prominence”. from churches, charities, unions, health mercial and media speech. British TV production culture used There has been a notable defec- to be antagonistic to PP, but it is bodies and media freedom groups tion from the ranks of PP advocacy: changing. Last year the EU adopted the Incorporated Society of British a new Audiovisual Media Services al markets is no more persuasive now Advertisers is worried about the Directive, which leaves each country to than before. ITV’s argument has been that increased cost for its members who cur- make its own decision – though the ban “every little helps”: PP will offset ad rev- rently get their props used for free. But it remains on news and current affairs and enues that have fallen sharply in recent also judged that PP would further erode children’s and religious programmes. years – though they are rising again now. public trust in TV and generate viewer Most EU states, except Denmark, are If the focus really was on economic complaints. Get those complaints line expected to allow PP in commercial tele- viability, then the risks of cannibalising numbers preset on your telephone now! vision, though some, like Germany and existing revenues would have generated France, are debating exclusions for public more serious consideration. The likeli- ● Jonathan Hardy wrote the CPBF sub- service media. In the UK the BBC will not hood is that marketers will simply redis- mission to the DCMS consultation. It is adopt the practice. tribute rather than increase spending. at www.cpbf.org.uk

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Reviews SELF-CENSORSHIP AT WORK

CENSORSHIP: A BEGINNER’S One of the cartoons, GUIDE showing a cartoonist Julian Petley shielding his drawing of OneWorld £9.99 Mohammed. Ironically, the cartoonist can’t be named, since with 11 of the 12 he or she has not been identified and THE CARTOONS THAT SHOOK lives under tight THE WORLD security. Jytte Klausen Yale University Press £20

by Granville Williams

n September 2005 the Danish newspa- than using cartoons to illustrate an inter- net of a man wearing a pig snout. per Jyllands-Posten published 12 car- view with the author of a book that was The controversy needs a wider context Itoons featuring the Prophet censored by a refusal to publish those and Julian Petley’s Censorship: A Mohammed. Kurt Westergaard, whose very cartoons.” Beginner’s Guide provides that. It carries bomb in a turban cartoon was one of the The Cartoons That Shook The World examples ranging back to the death of 12, has had stark reminders of the contin- presents a clear account of the publica- Socrates in 399BC to contemporary uing anger and controversy provoked by tion of the cartoons and how five months debates on internet censorship. their publication. later they became the focus of global con- The first chapter, Death and In February 2006 police arrested three troversy. Through interviews with key Destruction, and his conclusion analyse Muslim men for plotting to kill Kurt actors in the drama she demonstrates the similar furore around Salman Westergaard and his wife. And in January how the reaction was orchestrated first in Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, and anoth- this year a 28-year-old man attacked his Denmark and Egypt, then in Pakistan, er, Markets and Moguls, demonstrates house armed with an axe and a knife. Lebanon, Libya and Nigeria. how “unregulated market forces are Police arrested the man after a struggle in The drawings have been published in equally effective as censors of media as which he was shot (but survived). more the 50 countries, including Algeria, are governments, albeit in a different Jytte Klausen’s The Cartoons That Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen – fashion”. Shook The World tells the story, but its though there were repercussions for the Julian Petley (who chairs CPBF) is publication has sparked accusations of editors responsible in each – and of unequivocal in the defence of free and self-censorship. The US publisher decid- course on the internet. Only three news- open expression and opposes those who ed not to publish the cartoons because of papers did (out of 1,400) in the USA and argue that, in societies with a variety of a perceived risk of violence. none in the UK (a student newspaper deeply held views and beliefs, religious The December 2009 issue of Index on did). The BBC apologised for showing and cultural sensibilities should be Censorship in London carried an inter- onscreen the newspaper’s page with the appeased through censorship or self-cen- view with Jytte Klausen, but again with- cartoons and a news clip of one of the sorship. out any of the cartoons. The chair of Danish imams holding a picture and pre- He is with George Orwell: “If liberty Index, Jonathan Dimbleby, spoke of his senting it as one of the cartoons when it means anything it means the right to tell hope that “we will get beyond a narrow was a photo downloaded from the inter- people what they do not want to hear.” obsession with those Danish cartoons and engage a much bigger audience in this great debate.” practitioners, in all fields, of the impact I am not sure what he means by an Research in progress of digital convergence on the production obsession with the cartoons, which NEW MEDIA, OLD NEWS of news, produced by a team of ten seems to be held by Islamic rabble- Natalie Fenton (ed) lecturers and researchers at Goldsmiths rousers rather than western liberals, but Sage £18.99 College in London. there was an outcry among Index mem- It will be of value, too, to campaigners, bers with calls for Jonathan Dimbleby’s partly because it provides academic resignation posted on the website. corroboration for the journalistic work of Kenan Malik, a member of the board Nick Davies’s Flat Earth News of 2008. who could not be at the decisive meeting, Its special value lies in the fact that, said that such pre-emptive censorship by Tim Gopsill though they all worked as a team, creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. The different writers offer differing takes on assumption that an “offensive” work will This is a rare academic work that many similar themes, for instance Angela invite violence “both entrenches the idea people in the “real world” will scrutinise; Phillips and Nick Couldry on the that the work is offensive and creates a at least, those in the media will if they significance of new online journalists as culture that makes violence more likely”. want an idea of where the industry is sources or competitors for the He dismissed the suggestion that it going. mainstream. was “unnecessary” and “gratuitous” to It is a comprehensive survey, based on But that is the state of the industry: use the cartoons: “I cannot see what interviews with hundreds of much is still uncertain. could be less unnecessary or gratuitous

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News

for Labour but it helped the Tories. delivering exclusives. Lord Levy’s claim In the 2010 general election, today’s that Tony Blair is convinced Gordon Press politics online army of political activists is Brown cannot beat David Cameron was From page one unlikely to be offered anything like timed to cause maximum same array of sensational stories, but in embarrassment for Labour. framework for much of the online any case the national newspapers have Britain’s highly-politicised national debate is shaped by the dedication and no intention of being sidelined by the press might not be as powerful as it ingenuity of journalists and not by the blogosphere. once was but Conservative campaign bloggers who are more likely feed off Agenda-setting political stories – headquarters will be waiting anxiously their work. often backed up by video interviews – to see what anti-Cameron stories the John Terry’s failed attempt to prevent are winners for the weekend press. Daily Mirror has in its locker, just as the News of the World publishing Newspapers like the Mail on Sunday Labour will be in fear of a rampant pro- allegations about an extra-marital have a well-established track record in Conservative Sun. affair was the latest illustration of the continuing power of the press proprietors to drive a story forward. Nicholas Jones is a former BBC industrial and Online gossip about his private life had long been an irritation for the political correspondent, author of a number of former England soccer captain – as it is books on government and the press and a for other Premier League players and managers – but once he was targeted by member of the CPBF National Council. the Murdoch press the story gained He will be speaking on the media and the traction and was immediately picked up by the rest of the media, which in turn election at the 2010 UNESCO World Press triggered a flood of comment on sites and forums for football fans. Freedom Day meeting on London on April 9. John Terry’s humiliation in the The meeting will debate the proposition: tabloids is a reflection of the experience of countless politicians who have been ‘Unregulated political comment online helps caught in the eye of media feeding the democratic process.’ frenzies; it is also a reminder of the damage that well-timed revelations can Other speakers arranged so far include Caroline Thompson, chief do to the standing of a political party. In the long run-up to the 1997 operating officer at the BBC, pollster and commentator Sir Robert general election, when the press turned Worcester and Steve Barnett, Professor at Westminster University. against John Major, stories about sleaze dominated the agenda and the The debate as at the Frontline Club, Norfolk Place, London W2, at Conservatives imploded in the face of 10.30 am on Friday April 9. Admission is free but places should be newspapers disclosures about extra- marital affairs, cash for questions and booked at www.frontlineclub.com splits over Europe. The press didn’t win that landslide Free Press is edited byTim Gopsill on behalf of the National Council. Send letters, comments, articles and ideas to [email protected]

MEMBERSHIP RATES PER ANNUM AFFILIATION BY ORGANISATION a) Individual membership £15 f) Fewer than 500 members £25 b) Unwaged £6 g) 500 to 1,000 £30 c) Supporting membership £25 h) 1,000 to 10,000 £50 JOIN (includes free CPBF publications) i) 10,000 to 50,000 £115 d) Institutions (eg libraries) £25 j) 50,000 to 100,000 £225 THE CAMPAIGN FOR (includes 10 copies of FREE Press) k) Over 100,000 £450 PRESS AND I/We want to join the CPBF and enclose a cheque/PO for £ ______Name ______BROADCASTING Address ______FREEDOM ______Postcode ______Tel ______Email______Organisation (if applicable)______CPBF website: www.cpbf.org.uk Return form to CPBF, 2nd floor, Vi and Garner Smith House, 23 Orford Road, email: [email protected] Walthamstow, London E17 9NL Tel: 020 8521 5932

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Photography Photography

TIM GOPSILL charts Up to 3,000 people joined the ‘I'm a no avail. He allowed me to continue my Photographer Not a Terrorist!’ mass job.” The same thing happened twice the rise of resistance gathering in Trafalgar Square in more. Each time the searching officer January in defence of street found the house keys, and still they did to police attempts to photography and against the arbitrary not fit. use of the terrorism laws to stop and This kind of harassment is common. restrict the right to search photographers In the last year PHNAT has recorded several incidents. Award-winning take pictures in a of the anti-terror laws. architectural photographer Grant Smith Tens of thousands of people have was photographing a church in the City public place been stopped and searched – 36,000 in of London near the offices of the Bank three months last year alone, according of America and Merrill Lynch when a to the latest available figures – under security guard asked for his ID, which reedom always has to be section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, he refused to give, as is his right. fought for, and in few places which authorises has police to make Three police cars and a riot van in Britain is press freedom random stop-and-searches in “designat- arrived. Officers told him they were fought for more determined- ed” areas of people without suspicion responding to an incident in which “an ly than by photographers on of wrongdoing. aggressive male ... had been in recep- the streets of London. There This law is now a dead letter, thanks tion of the building taking photographs is always tension between to a judgement in the European Court of of the staff ... and refused to leave”. journalists and the police in Human Rights in Strasbourg in a test Grant Smith explained this was incor- Fwhat they call “public order” situa- case brought by Pennie Quinton and rect but his bag was searched and he tions. Photographers must be close to Kevin Gillan and backed by Liberty. was told that if he did not give his ID the action and if police start arresting or Pennie Quinton is a video journalist he would be physically searched, so he beating people they are not going to who had been trying to film a demon- then agreed. want the images published. stration at the Defence Systems and Jerome Taylor of the Independent Photographers can be detained for Equipment International (DESI) exhibi- was taking a picture of the Houses of hours, pushed around, obstructed or tion in London Docklands in 2003. She Parliament – as tourists do every day – thumped and sometimes quite badly was detained and searched, as was when two police officers appeared and hurt. The effect of preventing them Kevin Gillan, a demonstrator. questioned him, noting his height, either taking photos or getting them out Section 44 bypassed the requirement name, address and ethnicity. This they in time to publish is a violation to that the police needed grounds for sus- recorded on a form that explained the which the press freedom lobby picion to conduct a search. The reason: "Using a camera and tripod next (including the CPBF!) has paid too little European court said the new powers to Westminster Bridge.” attention. were "not sufficiently circumscribed" A photographer was arrested by two It’s an old problem but in the last and there were not "adequate legal safe- armed police officers at London City decade there have two crucial develop- guards against abuse”. The pair had Airport while covering a small and ments. The first is the adoption of suc- been “obliged to ... submit to the search peaceful protest by environmental cam- cessive anti-terror laws, giving police and if they had refused they would paigners in Santa Claus outfits. have been liable to arrest, detention at a Officers told him they were police station and criminal charges. She was searched four times at This element of coercion is indicative of a deprivation of liberty." responding to an incident in JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK Kingsnorth climate camp, but It awarded them 33,850 each in which ‘an aggressive male ... had compensation. The UK government will when she photographed Alistair appeal and the law remains in force but been taking photographs of the lawyers consider it inoperable. Darling in his office she went It has not stopped photographers staff ... and refused to leave’ being stopped and searched. Within a through no searches of any kind month of the judgement Philip Caller new authority to obstruct and threaten got the treatment while taking pictures Photographers have had other suc- people taking photographs. of demonstrators blockading an import cesses. The recent rash of stop-and- There are half a dozen such measures depot in Hayes, Middlesex, that distrib- searches began at the Kingsnorth climate that, among other things, grant police UP AGAINST THE utes goods produced in Israeli settle- camp protest in 2008, and Kent Police the right to stop and search, to clear ments on the West Bank. were forced by the NUJ to apologise people from a “designated area”, and He showed his NUJ press card, for- publicly for their treatment of photogra- outlaw the taking of pictures of police mally recognised by all police forces, pher Jess Hurd, who was searched four or security personnel that might be of but an officer still searched him – times. She pointed out that the next use to a terrorist. under the Police and Criminal Evidence week she had photographed Chancellor The second development is just as LAW AND WINNING Act (PACE), which authorises police to Alistair Darling in his office and went significant: the growth of a corps of search on reasonable suspicion of crim- through no searches of any kind. photographers who are prepared to personnel that are "likely to be useful to since then, culminating in a gathering Even the BBC, generally known for inal activity. The union has won compensation challenge all this. They have a group a person committing or preparing an act in January in Trafalgar Square – where conservatism in estimating the numbers Philip Caller said: “He said he and apologies for a number of photogra- called “I’m a Photographer not a of terrorism". The penalty could be ten so many have been harassed while pho- on demos, reported there were 3,000 believed that I might be in possession phers, most recently for Andy Handley Terrorist!” – PHNAT for short – that years in prison. tographing other people’s demos in the there. of a set of keys that fitted the locks the of MKNews in Milton Keynes, who was grew out of an extraordinary demon- The NUJ had staged demos at past. Marc Vallee, one of the most Such laws may not be intended to protesters were using to chain them- held for eight hours after trying to take stration outside New Scotland Yard, the Scotland Yard in support of photogra- active street photographers, said: prosecute people, but to intimidate selves to the gates. I replied that I had pictures of a car accident. Metropolitan Police headquarters, just a phers before, but now the photogra- "Photographers will be exercising their them, and this is what the campaign just arrived, had been in full view of And Marc Vallee himself received year ago. phers rallied themselves and 300 of common law right to take a picture in a has undermined. police officers and nobody had passed substantial compensation for a serious It was the day the day the Counter them turned up and defiantly took pic- public place. People are fed up about In the process the photographers are me anything. back injury after he was knocked to Terrorism Act came into force, section tures of every copper they could see. being stopped and they want to chal- fighting for the freedom of everyone, “However, I agreed to the search. My the ground by police while covering a 58 of which makes it an offence in the Police just had to grin and bear it. lenge a culture that sees photographers since a lot more vulnerable people than searching officer found my house keys. demonstration in Parliament Square UK to take pictures of police or security There have been a number of events as a threat." them find themselves at the rough end He tried these in the protesters’ locks to in 2006.

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