news Police spied on N Ireland journalists VUK VALCIC / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO


THE POLICE service in Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Metropolitan Police have been found to have acted illegally by spying on two journalists to identify their sources. The landmark ruling was made by the Investigatory Powers


Tribunal (IPT) in December in a case brought by Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney. It found that the actions of police when mounting an


undercover surveillance operation were disproportionate and undermined the domestic and international protections available for the media. The PSNI was ordered to pay £4,000 to each journalist. The


amount is similar to previous financial damages granted by the European Court of Human Rights to journalists Dirk Ernst and Natalia Sedletska after Belgian and Ukrainian authorities were found to have breached their Article 10 rights to protect journalistic sources. A covert sting operation in 2018 targeted a civilian employee of the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman. They were suspected of passing secret documents to the journalists which appeared in a documentary called No Stone Unturned about the Loughinisland killings in 1994. The film claimed that the police had colluded in protecting


loyalist gunmen who murdered six Catholic men as they watched a World Cup football match. Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary said the IPT decision had


profound implications for media freedom. She said: “By taking the case to the IPT Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney have been responsible for shedding light on a very


dark episode in the murky history of surveillance against journalists. Our union has always been concerned at the secretive nature of the IPT and the lack of transparency in how evidence may be heard. The public sessions and the tenacious quest for answers by the various legal teams provided an insight into the operation of the IPT, as well as insights into the way in which decisions were taken by those responsible for policing in Northern Ireland. “Many questions remain unanswered. The IPT hearing cannot be the end of this matter since it has raised so many fundamental questions. “ In January Angus McCullough KC issued a progress report on


the review he is conducting into the conduct of the PSNI arising from concerns about surveillance of journalists, lawyers and other groups.


Sun reporter hit with arrest warrant


RUSSIA has issued an arrest warrant for Sun defence editor Jerome Starkey and he has been placed on an international wanted list after reporting on the Ukraine war. Russia’s Federal Security


Service secured the arrest warrant against Starkey because of his exclusive


reporting in August last year when he travelled with Ukrainian forces and a photographer to Kursk inside Russia to cover the incursion by Ukraine. The move by Ukraine was described as the biggest foreign attack on Russian territory since World War II. Starkey’s reports meant


that he was the first UK journalist to report from an occupied part of Russia since the Crimean war in 1856. Starkey has said he will


carry on reporting the Ukraine war although he was taking the warrant seriously and The Sun – together with Sir Keir Starmer – has pledged


support for him.’ The defence editor has made a dozen lengthy visits to Ukraine since the war began three years ago. Last year Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter, was finally released after being imprisoned in Russia for more than a year.


Family courts made more open


MAJOR changes to reporting family courts rolled out in January mean that accredited journalists can report on what they see and hear whilst attending the hearings, if a transparency order is granted. Family courts usually cover issues such as who children


will live with or whether they should be taken into care, so are sensitive and are held in private. New changes mean those reporting on proceedings can ask for documents and speak to families involved, if they keep them anonymous. Since 2009, journalists


have been able to attend cases but not report on them. However, following campaigns highlighting the importance of public interest journalism, including by journalist Louise Tickle, a pilot scheme was rolled out in January 2023 in Leeds, Carlisle and Cardiff.


In the following year it was


to 16 further court areas. In 2024, the Family


Procedure Rule Committee approved the extension to cover all family courts, making required changes to the Family Procedure Rules and issuing new practice directions.


theJournalist | 05 “


The Police Service of Northern Ireland was ordered to pay £4000 to each journalist


Spirit amid the horror, Page 16


GBIMAGES / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO


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