Strange case of BBC sensibilities
Stories like this involving respected BBC journalists writing to newspapers worry me somewhat.
With the best of motives and intentions they rightly highlight the threats posed to the activities of investigative journalists and their freedom to pursue stories and sources without the fear of being followed by police and harassed into handing over sensitive documents. This case involves Hassan Butt, a man feted for his “Damascus moment” when he turned against terror, Al Qaeda, the Taleban, and all that they stood for and began talking to young men of the Islamic faith in this country warning them of the dangers of getting involved with such ways of life.
Whilst being desperate to hang to the files and stories that they have about Butt and his contacts the action of the BBC journalists seems to display double standards and hypocrisy of a type only too common within the corporation. They seemed happy enough to hand over film and documents to the police relating to the British National Party (who we all hate), virtually as soon as it was asked for?
They must either protect their own in ALL cases, and with it the integrity of ALL journalists, or they must bow to the pressure of the state. They cannot defend journalistic freedoms as and when they choose in a perfunctory and arbitrary manner.
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