The Press Gazette has launched a campaign to ‘Save our Sources’ and stop whistleblowers being criminalized by the police. The campaign is to help protect people from being scared off of exposing scandals because of reprisals they could face if they themselves were exposed as whistle blowers. Signatures are being collected for a petition against the use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers act (RIPA)

The campaign was kickstarted after three police officers were sacked for leaking information about the ‘plebgate’ scandal, which the public had a right to know. The three officers had spoken to The Sun newspaper but Scotland Yard used the RIPA act to access phone records of the journalist who wrote the story and spoke to the officers in question.

The Save our Sources brings up some interesting issues to do with a journalists right to protect their sources, it’s obvious that the thought that a whistleblower can be tracked down by accessing a journalists phone records can frighten would be sources away from handing over information essential to investigative journalism and bringing important stories and issues to the public light.

The use of RIPA in this case sets a frightening president that the act can be used for internal matters in oppose to detecting crime as it was intended. By using the act the Met did not have to ask a judge for access to the records which journalists could have appealed against. Meanwhile all of the records grabbed using the RIPA act have done so from law abiding citizens, they had not broken the law in any way.

Where it is obvious that we need acts like this to address public security it’s use in this matter is a scary prospect. Some people may argue that the Metropolitan police had a right to track down the offending officers and fire them for speaking out on the issue, it marks a dark day for journalism or anyone looking to out deficiencies in any public service. Even more scary is Scotland Yards omission that they do not know how many times the act has been used in this way, but it has been used against journalists working for the Mail on Sunday and the Ipswich Star, who had again not broken any laws.

The campaign has received support from The Sun and the Guardian and journalism studies students like myself for many reasons. In my opinion the use of RIPA in this way highlights how vulnerable whistle blowers and sources are in the UK, if we send a message that any source can be tracked down how can we expect people to come forward with injustices and do our jobs as journalists.

Sources that are outed can become victim to reprisals from other colleagues or even loose their jobs as the police officers did in this case. When someone comes forward to expose an employer or public service its because they want to better the organization they are within, how can they do this if they instantly loose their jobs as a result of their insights.

Journalists have long since established a practice of protecting their sources and gathering information by people who wish to stay off the record, keeping them as such. This move just reiterates the lack of confidence in journalism and journalists and whether they can be trusted to commit to the responsibilities of their profession.

Believers in the fourth state agree with the campaigns statement that ‘A free and open democratic society relies on whistleblowers to expose scandals and corruption in our public institutions.’ (Press Gazette, 2014) Like myself they believe the secret monitoring of a journalists phone records will lead to a even more secret state where important issues go unaddressed.

There definitely needs to be new guidance around how RIPA can be used at the very least, though primarily the answer would be to add an exemption for journalists to the act. This would protect the confidentiality of journalists sources and the freedom of expression stated in the European Convention of Human Rights

References

Change.org, (2015). Interception of Communications Commissioner Sir Paul Kennedy: Please take action to ensure the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act is not used by public authorities to secretly obtain journalists’ phone records and identify confidential sources.. [online] Available at: https://www.change.org/p/interception-of-communications-commissioner-sir-paul-kennedy-please-take-action-to-ensure-the-regulation-of-investigatory-powers-act-is-not-used-by-public-authorities-to-secretly-obtain-journalists-phone-records-and-identify-confidential-sources [Accessed 5 Jan. 2015].

National Union of Journalists, (2014). Keep up the pressure to save our sources. [online] Available at: https://www.nuj.org.uk/news/keep-up-the-pressure-to-save-our-sources/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2015].

Press Gazette, (2014). We have until 20 January to Save Our Sources and stop the police licence to view journalists’ phone records. [online] Available at: http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/we-have-until-20-january-save-our-sources-and-stop-police-licence-view-journalists-phone-records
[Accessed 5 Jan. 2015].