MPs have called on Home Office ministers to meet with the National Union of Journalists to discuss the use of police production orders to obtain journalists’ material.
It comes after the BBC, ITN and Sky News were last week granted permission to appeal against an Essex police production order which would force them to hand over footage taken during the first two days of the Dale Farm eviction last October.
MP Jonathan Edwards said: "The use of production orders by the police, such as in the case of Dale Farm, has the potential to increase risks for journalists as they are, in effect, seen as informers, as well as undermining journalistic independence.”
The appeal is expected after Easter.
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