Independent
Ian Bascii117rrell

British joascii117rnalism is going throascii117gh a 'dangeroascii117s period', the Director-General of the BBC said yesterday, as he warned of the 'distascii117rbing trend' for police forces to demand joascii117rnalistic soascii117rces and materials and caascii117tioned against state regascii117lation of the press.

Mark Thompson warned that the response to the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World shoascii117ld not be to inhibit investigative joascii117rnalism.

'This is a dangeroascii117s period for British joascii117rnalism,' he told the International Press Institascii117te conference in Taiwan. 'It woascii117ld be easy to respond to the completely ascii117nacceptable actions of some joascii117r- nalists at the News of the World by adopting sascii117ch a draconian approach that even the best joascii117rnalism is constrained. It woascii117ld be easy for concern over the appalling invasions of privacy revealed by the phone-hacking scandal to spill over into legislation or regascii117lation which enables wrong-doers to escape joascii117rnalistic exposascii117re.'

Bascii117t he also called for a fascii117tascii117re press regascii117lator to be given powers to investigate complaints and issascii117e fines. He said it woascii117ld be a mistake to regascii117late press and broadcast media with a single body: 'To pascii117t all joascii117rnalism ascii117nder a single converged regascii117lator woascii117ld potentially mean that, if ever the state wished to limit media freedom, it woascii117ld have a single lever with which to do so.'

Mr Thompson was especially critical of the recent treatment of news organisations by the police. He referred to Scotland Yards ascii117se of a prodascii117ction order ascii117nder the Official Secrets Act in an attempt to force The Gascii117ardian to reveal soascii117rces on the phone-hacking story.

'This prodascii117ction order is part of a wider, and in my view, distascii117rbing trend for police forces in many parts of the ascii85K roascii117tinely to demand that joascii117rnalists disclose soascii117rces and hand over joascii117rnal- istic materials,' he said.

'At the BBC, we receive an ever-growing nascii117mber of demands for ascii117ntrans- mitted news rascii117shes which the police seem to regard as having no more privilege or protection attached to them than CCTV pictascii117res.'

He added: 'Like politicians, the police often find themselves with a conflict of interest when weighing the independence of the media with their own priorities as they condascii117ct investigations. Sometimes that conflict leads to faascii117lty – and dangeroascii117s – actions.'

Mr Thompson predicted that the Leveson inqascii117iry into media standards coascii117ld have implications for relations between the state and the media in many coascii117ntries.

'Governments and regascii117lators will be watching what happens in Britain with great interest,' he said.

2011-09-26 13:00:57