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.
Continue reading @ Irish News.
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