Letter to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport cc’d Mayors Office & City Hall Press Office
Dear Sir
The National Union of Journalists, London Photographers’ Branch notes with great concern the proposed introduction of new byelaws covering Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square. We are specifically concerned with the restrictions on press photography in these areas without prior written consent:
“Acts within the Square for which written permission is required: take photographs or film or make any other recordings of visual images for the purpose of or in connection with a business, trade, profession or employment or any activity carried on by a person or body of persons, whether corporate or unincorporate.” Read the rest of this article »
Tuesday 31 January 2012, 6pm at Headland House will host the third NUJ London Photographers’ Branch Annual Delegate Meeting. We will also be holding branch nominations for the new National Executive Position (NEC) Photographers’ Seat and we will be passing an important motion on the Leveson Inquiry, calling for a nation wide UK Press Card Code of Conduct.
In the first part of the meeting we are very privileged to have Nigel Dickinson travelling over from Paris to discuss privacy law in France and its effect on photography and reporting. We also have the NUJ Senior Campaigns and Communications Officer Sarah Kavanagh, taking time out of her busy schedule to talk to the branch about what the union has being doing about the Leveson Inquiry. With the NUJ being a core participant, Sarah has been working with Michelle Stanistreet and can fill us in on the latest developments and what we can expect next. Read the rest of this article »
Nominations for the the remaining Casual Vacancies on the National Executive Council (NEC), Ethic Council, Industrial and Executive Councils are to be in taken by end-of business on Friday 27 January 2012. These voluntary committee positions are for two years starting from January 2012. Each position is one seat unless otherwise stated.
Please contact joint secretary Jason N. Parkinson is you are interested in being nominated for a position.
Newspaper and magazine publisher Archant, with profits of over £2.6 million, has announced a major new initiative aimed at encouraging its readers to submit photos for publication and syndication. Their iwitness24 scheme is described as giving ”users the chance to share their news, photos and videos”, and appears to be offering contributors the opportunity to profit from an international syndication scheme. Read the rest of this article »
The Tuesday 31 January 2012 London Photographers’ Branch meeting will host two important events.
First, it is the LPB AGM* where we elect our committee members & discuss the work of the branch for the coming year.
With the prospect of tighter restrictions resulting from the Leveson Inquiry, we will also be having an introduction by Paris based photographer Nigel Dickinson about the impact of Privacy Law on photography in France. Read the rest of this article »
Tomorrow morning, Tuesday 13 December 2011, I will head to Chelmsford Crown Court to oppose a production order application by Essex Police to seize all my footage from the Dale Farm eviction.
The production order, calling for all footage shot on 19 and 20 October, is also being served upon other news outlets.
I am resisting the order with the full support on the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and legal support from Bindmans Solicitors. The handing over of material, either published or unpublished goes against the NUJ Code of Conduct. Read the rest of this article »
This Christmas we are coming together as a branch in a celebration of our year. Over the last 12 months our members have reported and documented everything from revolutions to civic engagements. Though our commitment to the highest standards of ethical journalism we continue to stand and fight together for the future of photography in the UK and Abroad. To celebrate this last years achievements the branch is running a print exchange at the party. To enter you can either buy raffle tickets on the night or donate a print to the exchange and get them free. All financial proceeds will be donated to a journalist’s charity to be announced.
If you would like to donate a print for our raffle then please bring it along to the party on the night, otherwise Matt can offer a quality (giclee) A3 print for £12 inc. VAT. Please Email him your image file in the form of a JPEG to matt@matthewaslett.com.
Police officers block Jules's camera, dislodging a lens hood, during the incident. photo Jules Mattsson
The London Photographers’ Branch congratulates its member Jules Mattsson in winning his case against the actions of the Met police when he was covering an Armed Forces Day parade in Romford last year. Jules kept calm, recorded the incident and argued for his rights in an intimidating encounter with the police. During the encounter he was abused, assaulted and threatened under the Terrorism Act and falsely imprisoned. Jules was 15 at the time and a student but had the support of branch officials at the scene and the national union in successfully pursuing justice with the help of leading civil rights solicitor and friend of the NUJ, Chez Cotton.
NUJ Legal Officer Roy Mincoff said:
“This was very poor and unlawful behaviour by a senior police officer, trying to intimidate a young NUJ photographer. It is not acceptable conduct, has no place in the police force and is hardly likely to gain respect for the police amongst the youth of the UK. The police have now recognised this, apologised and compensated our member. The NUJ will continue to hold the police to account to ensure that the vital rights of journalists, enshrined in law, are upheld, to enable reporting and photographing to continue, as part of the democratic framework of our society.”
The National Union of Journalists is demanding an apology from Nottinghamshire police after video tape was seized from a student videojournalist covering the ‘Occupy Nottingham’ protests.
Today, the NUJ has written to Nottinghamshire’s chief constable Julia Hodson calling for the apology to be made in person to 20-year-old Lewis Stainer, a student at New College in Nottingham.
Last Friday he was given back his film after it was seized on Monday 21st November by the police for evidential reasons. Lewis had been filming in the old Market Square for his course project when police made four arrests at the Occupy Nottingham camp. Subsequently two people were charged with offences.
National officials of the NUJ have also decided today to give Lewis Stainer legal support while the union’s legal officers carry out a full investigation into the incident. Lewis who’s studying a BTEC in TV and Film says he wants an apology as well as compensation for the stress and inconvenience he experienced in having his coursework seized.
The union is increasingly unhappy at the number of problems involving photographers across the country.
Diana Peasey, chair of the Nottingham NUJ branch said ‘we know photographers are under increasing pressure here. They’re often told they can’t photograph crime scenes or face having their camera or material seized by police under section 19 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. It is done all too frequently.’
‘We have our own Police and Media guidelines which the NUJ negotiated with the Nottinghamshire police. Section 7 says specifically:
‘Police officers do not have the authority to prevent a person taking a photograph or to confiscate cameras or film and such conduct could result in criminal, civil, or disciplinary act.’
Ms Peasey said “It is clear that the PACE legislation is overriding the Media guidelines and we need to toughen them up to ensure that the police understand they cannot intimidate photographers and journalists at crime scenes or major incidents.”
Meanwhile, Nottinghamshire Constabulary’s Complaints and Misconduct unit is also looking into the incident.
Diana Peasey, chair, Nottingham NUJ branch.
Material ‘acquired or created for the purposes of journalism’ is Special Procedure and protected from seizure in this way under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. The London Photographers Branch is strongly against the use of journalistic material as evidence.
Members approached by the police for your material you should contact the NUJ immediately. During office hours you can contact the NUJ Legal Department on 020 7843 3721. If you urgently need help you call the 24hr NUJ emergency legal helpline on 0800 5877530.
Project Griffin training at Wood Street Police Station, 6 October 2011.
Project Griffin was formed in 2004 with constituents from the London Fire Brigade, London Ambulance Service, City of London Police, Coorporation of London and private security firms deployed in the City. Originally conceived by the City of London Police, it is now a national partnership and has been successfully exported to other countries.
Like many partnerships, it requires one party to be the leading initiator in the process, and in this case it is the City of London Police. Training days are held monthly at Wood Street Police Station. I attended as an observer, on behalf of the NUJ, and as a possible contributor to the training process.
The day began with an introduction to Project Griffin, and it wasn’t long before photography was mentioned, about 15 minutes into the session, and that came with the expression ‘Hostile Reconnaissance or innocent tourism?’ A Special Branch officer gave an overview of the terrorist threat, from both domestic and international organizations as well individuals acting alone. The classification and assessment of the threat levels and the current threat level was addressed. The use of hostile reconnaissance as an important part of planning in a terrorist action was discussed.
In the event of an incident, the role of the security forces as support for the police was raised. This included deployment of security personnel to staff secondary cordons around an incident site, as directed by a police officer. The emphasis was on close working and cooperation with the police at all times. An officer from the Bomb Squad revealed the different types of explosives, their constituent parts, how they may be detonated and the resultant damage. A firearms and weapons officer revealed tactics on how to avoid and minimize injury in a weapons attack.
The last briefing was from an officer from Operation Fairway, an intelligence gathering operation co-ordinated by detectives based within the Counter Terrorism Command unit at New Scotland Yard. The operation’s remit is to detect, deter or disrupt terrorist activity. This involves enlisting additional ‘eyes and ears’ in support of the central government’s attempts to counter the threat, and Project Griffin dovetails neatly with this operation.
Hostile reconnaissance was covered in depth by Operation Fairway, and various types of reconnaissance were revealed. Despite the fact that the officer re-iterated that not all photography is hostile reconnaissance, it is one of the most manifest examples. It is hard not to think that guards leaving the training day will view photographers as potentially more suspicious than any other activity. However if the photographer is paying particular attention to control and security systems, ingress and egress routes, then it is said that a security guard ought to be suspicious, (unless the photographer has been commissioned by a company that supplies security systems).
Other possible indicators of hostile reconnaissance are said to include:
Making notes (something which photographers may do to record the position of the sun at a particular time of day),
Observation of security processes, entry points, perimeter barriers and reaction drills (though a photographer may be observing when a building is at its busiest to capture the buzz around the building)
Repeated walk-bys (again a possible research method used by a photographer to assess how the light falls most favourably on the structure)
The typical response from many photographers when challenged taking photographs is to mention Google Earth and the visual information in that data bank. It was also acknowledged that photography is not the only tactic used in hostile reconnaissance. Furthermore, someone taking photographs is not necessarily to be viewed as suspicious.
It is in this area that leads to some serious misunderstandings between photographers and security guards. It was emphasized that someone who is taking photographs is generally not suspicious, and certainly someone who is co-operative should not be considered as such. Guards were reminded that they had no power to demand deletion of images (if evidence of hostile reconnaissance is required, then this evidence would be vital), nor do they have the power to seize equipment.
Though there is no law preventing photography, once a photographer questions the guards’ insistence that ‘photography is not permitted’, the suspicion of the guard is alerted. Common sense and discretion become rare, and very soon, terrorism and ‘the current climate’ is mentioned as the reason why photography is prohibited. The prohibition on photography becomes more confused and muddled, as happened in Braehead shopping mall last month.
It would also be useful to convince security personnel to treat photographers less suspiciously and with more civility. There is good reason for photographers to do the same.
It seems that nowhere within the training currently are security guards told to stop or report all photography, and yet this continues to happen regularly, perhaps fueled in part by advertising like this?
The recent ‘Stand you Ground’ film highlights the problems photographers often face from security guards.
Note: The BISA (British Security Industry Association) have recently released new guidance in conjunction with the home office on photography & hostile reconnaissance, it can be downloaded here.
Boris Johnson, Byelaws, Parliament Square, Photography, Press Freedom, Trafalgar Square
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