U.K. Bill Would Allow Secret Courts to Confiscate Journalists’ Notebooks

Even in the digital age, the U.K. isn’t giving up on good ol’
notebook confiscation. A proposed bill contains a provision that
would allow authorities to ditch transparency and
demand journalists’ notebooks through secret courts. Monday,
ministers decided to
engage in further consultation on this provision of the bill
before sending it to committee.

Currently, requests for journalists’ notebooks, hard drives, and
other physical possessions must be made in a public, open court.
But Clause 47 would permit officials to request them through secret
channels.

The Newspaper Society, an organization that watches over
Britain’s local media, told
the Guardian:

The deregulation bill’s provisions could enable the current
statutory safeguards to be removed completely, reduced, weakened or
otherwise radically altered at any later time, without prior
consultation of the media affected nor detailed parliamentary
scrutiny of the effect.

On the other hand, a Cabinet Office spokesperson
told the Guardian, “Every measure in the deregulation
bill is intended to remove unnecessary bureaucracy.” Unless by
‘bureaucracy’ they mean transparent courts, that doesn’t seem to be
the case here.

Some
argue that the protect-us-from-journalists mentality stems from
the British News International phone hacking scandal. After
widespread, shameless phone tapping of celebrities, politicians,
the victims of bombs, etc. surfaced in 2011, the judicial Leveson
Inquiry was tasked with advising about future precautions against
journalists.
According to Politics:

The report on media regulation said steps needed to be taken to
ease the process by which authorities can get their hands on
reporter’s books and files.

Phone tapping was already an illegal practice. But the Leveson
Inquiry recommended developing an independent agency responsible
for regulating the media.

Negative media attention has led politicians to, maybe,
reconsider. After a second reading of the bill on Monday, Minister
Oliver Letwin
said to the Commons, “It would make sense to do some further
consultation in case there’s anyone out there who’s got views who’s
not come forward.”