Culture secretary criticises police questioning of journalists in NoW investigation
The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt has emphasised the difference between off-the-record briefings and payments to police revealed during the current phone-hacking investigation into activities at the now-defunct News of the World.
The Guardian reports that Hunt has warned against an over-reaction by police against journalists after it emerged that officers have questioned a Guardian journalist over alleged leaks from Scotland Yard's phone-hacking inquiry.
The paper points out that Hunt told MPs that he could not comment on the specific case, but went on to add: "There is an important difference between off-the-record briefing and the payment of money by or to the police in return for information.
"Journalists must operate within the law, but, as the prime minister told the [parliamentary] liaison committee, as we go through this entire process we must be careful not to overreact in a way that would undermine the foundations of a free society."
Hunt, reports The Guardian, was responding to a question by Tom Watson, the Labour MP for West Bromwich East, who said: "There is a world of difference between a journalist who bribes a police officer for information and a journalist who gets information from a police officer, freely given. The former corrodes our democracy, while the latter protects it."
Guardian journalist Amelia Hill, who is part of the paper’s team reporting on the NoW phone-hacking scandal, was questioned by police under caution several days ago in a move that has been condemned by the NUJ and media watchdog the Media Standards Trust.