U.K. broadcasters including the BBC, ITN, and Sky News, along with the Daily Telegraph newspaper, have been forced by court order to hand over raw footage from the summer riots to Scotland Yard. Judges in such cases are tasked with weighing the police’s need for evidence against the principles of a free press. “It is very, very rare that we are served with a court order to hand over footage like this,” said one broadcaster. “We don’t hand over material willy-nilly because it compromises the security of our journalists on the streets. Clearly we don’t want them being seen as an evidence-gathering arm of the police.” [Guardian UK]
