Evening Post made to leave public meeting
By Holdthefrontpage Staff
Police ordered a team from the Bristol Evening Post to leave a public meeting - despite the fact they had an invitation.

Reporter Rebecca Camber and photographer James Sandercock were at a meeting about rising crime when police told them to leave or be removed.

But police have accused the paper of lying in its report of the incident in a statement saying: "At no time were the journalists asked to leave the meeting."

The police spokesman added it was the police themselves that asked the press to attend in the first place.

In a scathing editorial, editor Mike Lowe said that the paper had no reason to lie, but it did have reason to be "angry and concerned" at the behaviour of the police, adding that the reporter had a clear recollection of what happened.

He said: "She was told by a police officer that if she and our photographer didn't leave they would be taken out by force. Can you believe a policeman actually thinking he had a right to say that? What a disgrace.

"And as for us "not having an invitation" we were there exercising our democratic right as journalists to report on an open meeting. We do not need to be invited. Nor do we need the permission, or consent, of the police to stay there."

Ironically, the incident came as the Evening Post launched an unrelated campaign to cut street crime in a joint initiative with the police.

Local police, neighbourhood housing officers and a councillor were on the panel at the meeting to hear views from concerned residents.

James was taking pictures at the meeting when a city council housing officer asked who he was. Shortly afterwards a resident asked not to be photographed and police then told the journalists to leave, saying they had not been invited.

But Mike Lowe said: "We make decisions about the relevance and sensitivity of material we carry in news stories dozens of times every day. We don't need the police, at whatever rank, to sit in judgement on us, on our ethics, or on our ability as journalists.

"And we certainly don't need and will not tolerate police who have precious little understanding of journalism trying to censor our work. For that is what their attempt to bar us from a meeting amounts to.

"So just for the record, we will attend public meetings wherever and whenever we want to and will report what happens at those meetings because that is our job as journalists and our rights as citizens. We will challenge anybody who tries to stop us doing that."


Legal note: A reporter and photographer have a right to attend a public meeting - especially under invitation - but their right to remain may depend on whether it is a private meeting opened up to the public or a statutory meeting.
However, in either case the police are within their rights to exclude people if they identify a possible breach of the peace.
Even so, if the journalists had insisted on staying, and an arrest was made, they could still take their chance with a claim of wrongful arrest, perhaps by arguing it was a council-convened meeting, for example, and that it was covered by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, which can cover working parties, advisory and study groups.