‘Save our sources’ fight against police snooping

Press Gazette launched a campaign to protect news sources after revelations that the police considered it legal to secretly obtain journalists’ phone records. It said it breached the right to freedom of expression, which included the right to protect sources (September 2014). Read more

Nick Davies, who exposed phone hacking, said police should have gone before a judge to justify examining a Sun journalist’s phone records. He said journalists targeted by public authorities should check whether their records had been snooped on. Read more

Note: this story was uploaded to Media Law Matters before the implementation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation directive, which toughens up data protection law, from May 2018. 

George Clooney plans film on hacking scandal

The actor George Clooney – son of a journalist – announced he was preparing to direct a film telling the story of the investigation into phone hacking (Press Gazette, September 2014). Read more

Police tracked Sun calls to unmask news sources

Police circumvented a law that protected journalists’ sources to secretly examine journalists’ phone records, using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Press Gazette, September 2014). Read more

Three whistleblowing officers were sacked as a result – despite escaping prosecution on public interest grounds. The Metropolitan Police defended the action. Read more

Liberty said unfettered use of the power was a worry for free speech. Read more

Audit law probe reveals £120k to fend off BBC

The Audit Commission Act was used to uncover massive council spending to try to fend of a BBC investigation. The act requires councils to open their finances for public examination for four weeks per year (Press Gazette, September 2014). Read more