From Watergate to Loughinisland, investigative journalists have always relied on confidential sources – someone willing to blow the whistle on wrong-doing.
In turn, those confidential sources rely on the journalist’s commitment to ‘protect their sources’. It’s not just an essential part of the National Union of Journalists’ code of conduct, it’s enshrined in law, here and internationally. Not to protect journalists, but to protect the public’s right to know and to hold the powerful to account.
The European Court of Human Rights has said if journalists are forced to reveal their sources, the role of the press as a public watchdog would be seriously undermined because of the chilling effect on the free flow of information.
In recent years, some of our most respected journalists – from Liam Clarke and Suzanne Breen to Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey – have faced arrest and threats of jail in the police pursuit of their confidential sources. In each case, the reporters stood their ground – and won.
Maybe that’s why the PSNI resorted to using covert surveillance to identify journalists’ sources.
As the Investigatory Powers Tribunal case unfolding in London has started to reveal, the PSNI appears to have been abusing its powers to access journalists’ phone records in the hope of identifying sources.
What was exposed in court on Wednesday is even worse than we had expected: what would appear to be industrial-scale secret spying on journalists.
If it’s proven that such plainly unlawful practices were rampant in the PSNI, it will demonstrate utter contempt by the police for press freedom.
Every journalist in Northern Ireland who works the crime and security beat must now fear their phones have been accessed by the police. And every confidential source who has provided them with valuable information must fear their anonymity has been compromised.
Following these shocking revelations, the Policing Board must now step up and launch an inquiry into police spying on journalists, lawyers and others.
Meanwhile, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal should prepare itself for an avalanche of fresh complaints from Northern Ireland.
It’s imperative for the future of press freedom that those responsible for such a dangerous attack on a cornerstone of our democracy are held to account.