Video journalist Jason N. Parkinson with NUJ supporters outside the Royal Courts of Justice before the Dale Farm production order judicial review. © Jess Hurd/reportdigital.co.uk

The NUJ and other media organisations have won the judicial review at the Court of Appeal following the decision by Chelmsford Crown Court to grant the Dale Farm footage production order. The decision to force journalists to hand over unbroadcast footage has been overturned.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary said: “Today is a huge victory for the cause of press freedom and the protection of sources and journalistic material. We are incredibly pleased that the NUJ and other media organisations have won the High Court battle against the police production order to force journalists to hand over their Dale Farm eviction footage.”

Jason Parkinson, who challenged the order said: “This ruling to overturn the Crown Court’s decision to grant the Dale Farm production order sends a very clear message to all police forces that these wide-ranging fishing trips will not be accepted by the UK courts and that we will not be forced into to role of unwilling agents of the state. We are not there as evidence gatherers to fill police intelligence databases with hours of material on activists or protestors, we are journalists and we are there to report the news and keep the public informed.

In the last 18 months, every time one of these orders has been served it has put journalists in greater danger while trying to report on public order situations. I know this because I have been threatened and assaulted by people claiming my material will be used by the police. I am very happy to see Judge Moses has recognised the impact these orders have on the safety and impartiality of all journalists and has made sure any future production order applications must take this into account, as was clearly not the case this time round.”

This victory would not have been possible without the support of the NUJ legal team and campaign department. Special thanks to our General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet for her support, Roy Mincoff from the NUJ legal department, Sarah Kavanagh and Frances Rafferty from the NUJ campaign department, Martin Rackstraw from Bindmans Solicitors, Gavin Millar QC and all our campaign supporters.

We should not underestimate the significant stress and energy that go in to challenging such production orders, especially for freelancers, whose reputation and safety is on the line. It is extremely important that the High Court has acknowledged and reinforced the independent role of frontline journalists and their safety in gathering the news for future public order situations.

Press Clippings:

Read Guardian, Independent, ITN, BBC, Press Gazette articles.

Olympic security guards try to prevent photographers and video journalists from filming the Olympic site from the public highway. East London.

Last week at an NUJ organised meeting with senior police several experienced photographers (I was one) asked Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison (in charge of Olympic policing) & Cdr Bob Broadhurst about the private security guards’ training and instructions. We said that on the past record of private security guards we could expect unlawful and oppressive interference.

Allison assured us that the security would ONLY be acting inside the site and that we’d have no problems on public land outside. He may have believed that. We didn’t and thought that we should check out the accuracy of his promises. There were other issues (such as closures of public rights of way) that also seemed worth coverage.

Before we’d got half way round the site – all on public land – G4S security had run out from the site, shouting at me and grabbing the camera of a colleague (Jess Hurd), pushing her back and preventing her from taking photos. A second guard also appeared and assaulted a video journalist colleague, Jason Parkinson, grabbing his camera and pushing him around.

See Guardian video here

Their manager appeared after a minute or two. She defended their behaviour and told us that they were trained to deter people from taking photographs. We asked for police to attend and two SO23 officers soon arrived, confirmed that our behaviour was entirely lawful and the G4S guards retreated back into the Olympic site.

The guards are very poorly trained by G4s, on rotten terms of temporary employment and receiving the minimum wage. The blame should be on G4S and LOCOG whose penny pinching attitude and contempt for the media is already causing us problems and is certain to cause us a great deal more unless we take a stand.

© David Hoffman

David Hoffman images here

Jess Hurd images here

Other links:

I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist

Put your camera away: security guards offer glimpse of Olympic enforcers

Olympic Park Security Guards Forcibly Stop Journalists form taking photos (Guardian)

Press Freedom at the Beijing Olympics (Guardian)

O2 Olympic venue security staff stop legal photography (Guardian)

Olympics’ security guards “trained to deter people from taking photographs” (BJP)

Olympic Guards Wrong to stop Photographer, Admits 02 (AP)

Rod Liddle’s Got Issues: CCTV (Sunday Times)

Photography and Hostile Reconnaissance, a guide for BSIA members

The Dead Zone – Philip Wolmuth

Security & the London 2012 Olympics – Grant Smith

The Politics of Photographing Poverty

We are delighted to have award winning photographer Stuart Freedman and author of Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class, Owen Jones to open a discussion on this subject at our next London Photographers’ Branch meeting.

Stuart Freedman was born in London and has been a photographer since the early 90′s covering stories from Albania to Afghanistan and from former Yugoslavia to Haiti.

His work has been exhibited widely and recognised in many awards including Amnesty International (twice), Pictures of the Year, The World Sports Photo Award, The Royal Photographic Society and UNICEF. In 1998 he was selected for the World Press Masterclass.

His work on HIV/AIDS in Rwanda and from post-conflict South of Lebanon have toured extensively internationally. In 1999 he was invited to speak on Capitol Hill in the USA about the atrocities in Sierra Leone where his initial work on the Mutilated premiered. In 2004 he addressed the Oxford Union about the continued suffering of that country.

He continues to write and photograph for a variety of editorial and commercial clients.

Owen Jones has worked as a trade union lobbyist, as a parliamentary researcher for a Labour MP, has recently joined The Independent and is currently working on his second book, a polemic about the British Establishment. He is best known for his book Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class which explores the prejudice in society against those portrayed as “Thick. Violent. Criminal”.

According to The London Child Poverty Commission, almost halve of Inner London children live in poverty after housing costs. With no end in sight to the global crisis, the meeting will have a closer look at the representation of poverty in the media both at home and abroad.

All Welcome!

Facebook Event

For more on the subject please read LPB branch committee member, Philip Wolmuth’s blog post (first published in the BJP): Picturing Poverty

The opertaion on Marios Lolos fractured skull was successful. The minute he woke up he wanted to meet all the colleagues that had been waiting for him. He is overwhelmed by all the support, and going to spend a few days recovering in hospital.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Greek photographer Marios Lolos, President of Press-Photographers Union of Greece is undergoing brain surgery after reportedly being beaten by riot police in Athens yesterday. We wish to extend our union branch’s solidarity and best wishes.

Journalists have every right to gather news without being subjected to intimidation and violence. The targeting of journalists is completely unacceptable and the police officers responsible should be brought to justice.

The National Union of Journalists London Photographers’ Branch stand shoulder to shoulder with the Press-Photographers Union of Greece and all those who gather news.

We hope that Mario recovers from his ordeal and his colleagues, reporter Panagiotis Bousios and journalist Makis Synodinos who were also injured, make a full and swift recovery.

Jess Hurd

London Photographers’ Branch Chair

On behalf of the London Photographers’ Branch Committee.

Greek Translation kindly supplied by Lefteris Pitarakis:

Ανακοίνωση απο το Τμήμα Φωτογράφων Λονδίνου της Εθνικής ‘Ενωσης Δημοσιογράφων (NUJ) του Ηνώμένου Βασιλείου

Ό Έλληνας φωτορεπόρτερ Μάριος Λώλος,  πρόεδρος της Ένωσης Φωτορεπόρτερ Ελλάδας, υπεβλήθη σε χειρουργική επέμβαση στο κεφάλι, μετά τον ξυλοδαρμό του από αστυνομικούς στην Αθήνα. Θέλουμε  να εκφράσουμε την συμπαράσταση μας ως Τμήμα Φωτογραφων της Εθνικής ‘Ενωσης Δημοσιογράφων (NUJ) και τις ευχές μας.

Οι δημοσιογράφοι έχουν κάθε δικαίωμα να κάνουν την δούλεια τους χωρίς να υπόκεινται σε εκφοβισμό και βία.  Η στοχοποίηση δημοσιογράφων ειναι απόλυτα απαράδεκτη και οι αστυνομικοι, υπεύθυνοι για το συμβάν πρέπει να αντιμετωπίσουν την δικαιοσύνη.

Το Τμήμα Φωτογραφων της Εθνικής ‘Ενωσης Δημοσιογράφων (NUJ) στέκεται αλλυλέγγυο με την Ένωση Φωτορεπόρτερ Ελλάδας και όλους αυτούς που δουλεύουν για την συλλογή ειδήσεων.

Ελπίζουμε οτι ο Μάριος θα αναρρώσει γρήγορα και οι συναδερφοι του δημοσιογράφοι Παναγιώτης Μπούσιος και Μάκης Συνοδινός, που επίσης τραυματίστηκαν να ανναρώσουν πλήρως και γρήγορα.

Jess Hurd

Πρόεδρος, Τμήμα Φωτογραφων της Εθνικής ‘Ενωσης Δημοσιογράφων (NUJ)

LPB Riot/Public Order Tip Sheet

Women’s Safety ay Work Tip Sheet

]]> http://londonphotographers.org/2012/04/greek-photographer-hospitalised-by-police/feed/ 5 http://londonphotographers.org/2012/03/sexism-in-the-media-report-podcast/ http://londonphotographers.org/2012/03/sexism-in-the-media-report-podcast/#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:18:51 +0000 Jess Hurd http://londonphotographers.org/?p=2877 Last week I spoke at  Where are all the Women? How to beat Sexism in the Media, a fringe event at the TUC Womens’ Conference.

In the run-up to the meeting I spoke to many of my colleagues, men and women about the topic. To be honest I was horrified by the accounts from my female colleagues about the day-to-day sexism they face.

Women are massively under represented in our industry with lower pay, less shifts, less staff positions, less security. They face discrimination for the type of work they do and are bullied and harassed by some of their male colleagues.

Read the NUJ conference report and listen to the podcast here

We plan to have a meet-up of female colleagues to talk about the issues and how they can be addressed this Friday 30th March – 7pm upstairs at the Bloomsbury Tavern.

Please email jess@jesshurd.com if you are planning to attend (for bar snack numbers)

The NUJ is planning an event at TUC women’s conference this year entitled Where are all the Women? Sexism in the media industry – Organising the fightback.

The event will take place on Wednesday 14 March at TUC Congress House in London starting at 7pm. The venue address and map are here

All are welcome – so please feel free to invite others and promote the event to people you know.

RSVP: campaigns@nuj.org.uk

Here is the event leaflet – download leaflet

Date Sat, 17 Mar 2012

Time to from 10:00 to 16:00

Location Congress House, London WC1B 3LS

Cost £10 registration fee, £6 unwaged, includes refreshments and a sandwich lunch.
Register online now for £10 + £1.25 booking fee, £6 + £0.80 for unwaged, or pay by cheque for £10, or £6 unwaged.

Description
Media ownership and regulation are in the spotlight as never before.

Revelations about the conduct of Murdoch-owned papers have pitched the press into crisis.
The Leveson Inquiry is lifting the lid on the truth behind the headlines and there is now a once in a generation chance for real reform.

On Saturday March 17, politicians, union representatives, journalists, campaigners, commentators and academics will debate how we can reform the media

Confirmed speakers to date:
• Frances O’Grady TUC Deputy General Secretary
• Michelle Stanistreet NUJ General Secretary
• Tony Burke Assistant General Secretary Unite
• Luke Crawley Assistant General Secretary BECTU
• Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP, Deputy Labour Leader and Shadow Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport
• John Hendy QC NUJ counsel to the Leveson Inquiry
• Granville Williams Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom
• Tom O’Malley Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom and Professor of Media Aberystwyth University
• James Curran Co-ordinating Committee for Media Reform
• Natalie Fenton Professor of Media and Communications Goldsmiths College London
• Jim Boumelha International Federation of Journalists

Travel Travel Tube Tottenham Court Road, more details: http://www.congresscentre.co.uk/location.asp

Accessibility Accessibility Congress House is accessible, more details:http://www.congresscentre.co.uk/facilities_disabled.asp

Contact for more information
For more information please contact Mike Smith 020 7467 1228 email, msmith@tuc.org.uk

LPB are keen to fund a limited number of members for this event. If you are interested please contact larry@larryherman.net or register at:

http://mediaownership.eventbrite.co.uk