Why is police harassment of some journalists worth reporting and not others?

Why is police harassment of some journalists worth reporting and not others?

After right-wing hack Allison Pearson triggered press outrage because she was interviewed by police about an alleged ‘hate’ tweet, why is police harassment of some journalists worth reporting and not others?

Here’s Pearson’s account, along with a bit of commentary:

It is indeed hard to respond to an allegation if you don’t know what it is. I remember the controversy over the creation of secret courts in which, if a person was unlucky enough to be sent there, they were not allowed to know the charge against them or take part in the creation of any defence against it. I understand those courts are in operation in the UK today.

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But some have made a stab at working out what the offending post might have been:

Personally, This Writer doesn’t see how pro-Palestinian marches have caused widespread fear or spread hateful messages – but I don’t see that this particular post is hateful either. It’s just misinformed and misinforming (in my opinion).

It isn’t the message that caused Ms Pearson to be interviewed by the police, though. Reading between the lines, one can see that it is not far from being a hate message. I wonder why the offending message has not been identified.

The widespread coverage of this police call at a right-wing newspaper journalist’s house, and the large reaction on the social media, contrasts starkly with the total press blackout of (for example) the police raid on the home of Electronic Intifada writer Asa Winstanley [pictured] in October.

This pro-Palestine social media journalist’s devices were seized under the Terrorism Act, as part of ‘Operation Incessantness’ – a counter-terrorism initiative about which Mr Winstanley was told hardly anything.

Did you hear about the detention at Heathrow Airport of Richard Medhurst and the arrest of Sarah Wilkinson in August 2024, both of them independent journalists who have been reporting Israel’s war on Palestinians?

What about the time Declassified UK‘s Matt Kennard was reported to the Metropolitan Police by a right-wing group of ‘Israel lobby’ genocide-deniers – for saying fascists are not welcome on UK streets?

No? None of them?

Only a few days ago, UK prime minister Keir Starmer published a comment piece for The Guardian in which he said, “Journalism is the lifeblood of democracy… Just because journalists are brave does not mean they should ever suffer intimidation.”

It seems he was only referring to journalists who have the same political views as him.


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2 Comments

  1. Yurad November 29, 2024 at 1:54 pm - Reply

    Winstanley is not a journalist. That’s why no one cares. He’s a blogger. Putting the word “independent” in front of “journalist” doesn’t make one a journalist. The word independent means, winstanley in this case, isn’t a good enough writer to get a job in journalism, so he self-publishes on his blog and voila – “journalism”.

    • Mike Sivier November 29, 2024 at 9:16 pm - Reply

      By that standard, I am also a blogger. But I happen to have decades of experience as a newspaper reporter and editor, on which I rely as a blogger now. So am I a journalist or a blogger? And just because somebody has chosen not to work for somebody else, does that mean they’re not good enough? How do you know whether Asa Winstanley is qualified enough? And what about all the other named people who’ve had their collars felt by the cops? Is their work not good enough to be described as journalism?

      I think you might benefit from stepping back and thinking again.

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