“Minacciate le buone relazioni tra media e PSNI” sulla consegna dei filmati dei riot

Broadcasters warn PSNI over demands for footage

Northern Ireland’s main news organisations, including UTV, have written to the Chief Constable asking him to reconsider police demands to hand over footage taken at riots.

The move comes after a judge ordered media groups to hand over material from the recent disturbances in east Belfast.

The organisations said the use of ‘indiscriminate applications’ to court for access to footage ‘threatens the good relations’ between broadcasters and the PSNI.

The letter continued: “The undersigned have a genuine fear that terrorists and rioters will target the media whom they perceive to be evidence gatherers for the state, however involuntary that role might be.”

The editors told Matt Baggott that society as a whole would suffer if broadcasters felt they could not attend incidents, for fear of being targeted by those involved in the disturbances.

“None of the undersigned have any desire to obstruct legitimate evidence gathering or policing, nor do anything that would harm the prosecution process or would endanger public safety.

“However, we do believe that senior officers within the PSNI need to understand the damage that the increased frequency and broader scope of such applications does to the public perception of news organisations as being independent and impartial and, therefore, to the safety of our staff,” the letter continued.