Police ban ITV News from Press Conference.

[The Halk]

Castiel your concerns are valid - it's important the police do the right thing, not just what is in their own interests...

But you cannot assume that the police are guilty and as a result remove their abilities to perform their duties. There are things in place to ensure the police operate correctly, and any powers the police have, including the right to "police" their own press conferences can be looked at by these bodies.

It is not in any way like the government spin doctors only speaking to the BBC if the BBC are favourable. The press conference the police are doing is for the benefit of solving the crime. If they choose to have a press conference afterwards to answer any short comings, then they should not be banning press agencies from attending.

It is not ok to use the information being released to the public by a public body to influence the press with regard to it's criticism of said public body. It is not ok for the police to arrest reporters who say bad things about them. It is not ok to throw news editors in the cells overnight without charge because they dn't like them. The police have all these powers, but we can't take them away because they might misuse them.

 

[Werewolf]

ITV aren’t interfering with an investigation but the police are interfering with the operation of a free press. Their job is not to react to some perceived criticism but to get on with their jobs. They have no right in interfering with press freedom. But it appears that with no written constitution they are just trying it on.

The Police aren't interfering with the press - the same material will still be available to ITV news as to the other news organisations.
All that ITV not being at the press conference means is that ITV won't be able to ask a question.

The police have the right and the responsibility to at least try and see that the investigation isn't hindered by idiots chasing ratings (something the press seems to forget at times).

Do you not ask yourself why they only give out certain info? It's to protect their own arses more than it is to protect the investigation.

E.g.

'We cannot rule this out' - translation, they haven't got the foggiest.

'We cannot disclose this at this time' - translation, they don't want to because it'll make them look like buffoons.

A good investigator never rules anything out until the case is closed, or at least that line of the investigation has been fully checked out.
Ruling things out too early can result in fixating on a specific idea or bit of potential evidence and looking at everything else in relation to that idea - potentially missing what really happened.
There are numerous cases of that happening in the past where the police or any investigative team have thought they had a good suspect/evidence/theory, and because they're already sure about it they've overlooked things that pointed elsewhere.
Hence you don't rule anything out until it's all over and done with.


They also will not, or can not disclose certain information for any number of reasons, ranging from the fact that it may warn a potential suspect that they are getting close to him/her, or in some cases potentially lead to either copy cats or fake confessions (IIRC it's fairly normal for certain bits of information to be held back), or it might even potentially harm the case when it comes to court.

 

[Cosimo]

No. They are not interfering in the operation of a free press in any way shape or form. They can ban whoever they like from press conferences, they don't need to have press conferences, they can choose what information to give out at press conferences. It's up to them. Entirely.

The purpose of a press conference is to impart information to accredited members of the press. If you start banning certain member of the press from attending then you are interfering with the operation of a free press. It’s as simple as that.

You don’t have to answer their questions but you don’t prevent them from attending if you think they might start asking questions that you don’t want to hear or you don’t like what they’ve written about you.

As a body serving the public you have no right at all to prevent a member of the press attending. It’s the first step in a big brother state. This is not the USSR and it’s a great shame it’s not the USA because the Chief Constable would probably not be able to pull a stunt like this very easily.

 

[Castiel]

Castiel your concerns are valid - it's important the police do the right thing, not just what is in their own interests...

But you cannot assume that the police are guilty and as a result remove their abilities to perform their duties. There are things in place to ensure the police operate correctly, and any powers the police have, including the right to "police" their own press conferences can be looked at by these bodies.

It is not in any way like the government spin doctors only speaking to the BBC if the BBC are favourable. The press conference the police are doing is for the benefit of solving the crime. If they choose to have a press conference afterwards to answer any short comings, then they should not be banning press agencies from attending.

It is not ok to use the information being released to the public by a public body to influence the press with regard to it's criticism of said public body. It is not ok for the police to arrest reporters who say bad things about them. It is not ok to throw news editors in the cells overnight without charge because they dn't like them. The police have all these powers, but we can't take them away because they might misuse them.

I'm not suggesting that they be impeded in their duty, only that cherry picking which legitimate news agencies are included based on critical reports that news agency may have made is not a 'power' the police should have.

If the Press make erroneous or misleading headlines it is not the Police's job to punish them. They must use the Press Complaints Commission or the Courts if a gag order is required.

ITV gave the Police 8-10 opportunities to voice any concerns they had before the airing of the report. They declined to do so.

If this is allowed to continue then how long before every Governmental agency will only 'talk' to news agencies that support them.

 

[Cosimo]

The Police aren't interfering with the press - the same material will still be available to ITV news as to the other news organisations.

All that ITV not being at the press conference means is that ITV won't be able to ask a question.

That I'm afraid is a very big all because by that single action you are preventing a question from being asked. Thus with this act you are interfering with the press.

 

[The Halk]

The purpose of a press conference is to impart information to accredited members of the press. If you start banning certain member of the press from attending then you are interfering with the operation of a free press. It’s as simple as that.

It's as simple as you are wrong. It has entirely nothing to do with the operation of a free press.

The fundamental purpose of the press conference is not to impart information to the press. It is to get information to the public. The press are just a tool and should be used that way by the police without regard to fairness or to "press freedom".

You don’t have to answer their questions but you don’t prevent them from attending if you think they might start asking questions that you don’t want to hear or you don’t like what they’ve written about you.

Dead right. But the police need to be given enough rope to hang themselves here. If you do not allow the police to do their job because they might do it wrong then that's hardly ideal.

As a body serving the public you have no right at all to prevent a member of the press attending.

Yes they do. Do you expect them to allow the Daily Sport to take photos when they interview drunk celebs?

It’s the first step in a big brother state. This is not the USSR and it’s a great shame it’s not the USA because the Chief Constable would probably not be able to pull a stunt like this very easily.

It's not the first step in a big brother state. We're already many steps towards it in other ways. This is not a further step towards it. In the USA I'm confident the police would be free to do their job properly.

 

[Castiel]

The Police aren't interfering with the press - the same material will still be available to ITV news as to the other news organisations.
All that ITV not being at the press conference means is that ITV won't be able to ask a question.

The police have the right and the responsibility to at least try and see that the investigation isn't hindered by idiots chasing ratings (something the press seems to forget at times).
.

By cherry picking which agencies can attend based on critical reports those agencies may have made is indeed influencing the way in which the press will report.

"if we are too critical of the police, then we will be excluded from future press releases" is something that should not enter into any editors vocabulary in a country with freedom of the press.

ITV NEWS is an accredited and legitimate news agency, and as such should not be censured from ANY public body press conference.


The Police should not be saying "Well we are not telling you because you said nasty things about us, but we will tell you if you only say nice things." this is a Press Conference and should be open to ALL accredited members of the Press without exception. The Police are not a private institution and as such any information they release should be without condition. If they have issue with the way the information is reported then the Press Complaints Commission is available to them.

I must say that I'm surprised that people cannot see where this sort of action can lead. The "press conference" is to impart information, if public bodies begin to influence how that information is relayed via the Press then the Public will only get "the official" side to every story. News agencies will begin self-censuring just to ensure they get a seat at the conferences and as more and more public entities take rhis on board we will end up with "official" channels "controlled" by state agendas and perfectly valid news sources being frozen out.