Lessons from the UK: journalists, terrorism and national security.
Seminar/Forum
. Other subjects include legal obligations on journalists, recent changes to legislation, proposed reforms to the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1989 and the laws regarding source protection. The talk will also consider ethical and practical issues, including journalists’ safety in this area.
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This talk will focus on the laws, regulations and ethics concerning journalists reporting on issues of terrorism and national security. The talk will consider the issue of police seeking to obtain journalistic material, legislative safeguards, court procedures and recent court cases. The talk will also consider the D Notice system - the interface between news organisations, the military and the government (John Battle is Deputy Chair of the D Notice Committee). Other subjects include legal obligations on journalists, recent changes to legislation, proposed reforms to the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1989 and the laws regarding source protection. The talk will also consider ethical and practical issues, including journalists’ safety in this area.
Presenter
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Mr John Battle, Head of Compliance ITNMr John Battle
Head of Compliance ITN
ITN London
John Battle is Head of Compliance at ITN which makes the UK news programmes: ITV News, Channel 4 News and 5 News and also documentaries/ current affairs programmes for domestic and international broadcasters. He advises editorial teams on legal and regulatory issues such as libel, contempt of court, copyright, data protection, privacy and regulatory codes. In 2018 he led the legal advice on Channel 4 News’ investigation into Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. He is the Deputy Chair of the D Notice Committee, the interface between the UK media, the military and government. He has been a key industry figure in lobbying for greater openness in the courts – including the CPS Media Protocol (footage shown in court is disclosed by the prosecution to the media) and filming courts and inquiries. He leads the broadcast industry group on the issue of cameras in court and it was announced in 2020 that filming would be allowed in the Crown Court for the first time. He is the chair of the Media Lawyers Association – the association of inhouse lawyers from all the main news organisations both print and broadcast. John initially worked as a criminal law barrister before working as an inhouse lawyer for the two major newspaper groups, Associated Newspapers ( Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday) and News UK ( formerly News International). He is a Fellow of City University, University of London. He teaches the National Council for the Training of Journalists’ Court Reporting and Media Law courses.