Chapter 33 Self-test questions

. Clause 14 of the Editors' Code states: 'Journalists have a ____ obligation to protect confidential sources of information.'

. The Ofcom Broadcasting Code says that if a contributor to a programme has been guaranteed anonymity in it, this guarantee can be revoked 'if circumstances have changed in a material and significant way since the guarantee was given.'

True

False

. What is a whistleblower?

Someone who is determined to find out a journalist's source

Someone who anonymously gives a journalist information which it is in the public interest to disclose

Someone who sends a press release from a council or a government department

Someone who tells a journalist they have secret information which they refuse to disclose

. Journalists who refuse to reveal a source's identity can cite which article of the European Convention on Human Rights as a defence?

Article 5: Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person

Article 8: Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence

Article 9: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion

Article 10: Everyone has the right to freedom of expression

. Use of state powers, by police or Government agencies, when trying to discover the identity of a journalist's source, should be:

Unlimited

Severe

Proportionate

Minor

. A journalist can be jailed for refusing to reveal their source.

True

False

. The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 gives the UK's security and intelligence services, police and a wide range of other public authorities, including local authorities, legal powers to access communications data for a wide range of purposes. If the Act is used to get data for the purpose of identifying or confirming a source of journalistic information, and the authorisation is not to help avert an imminent threat to life, it must be approved by a Judicial Commissioner, who will consider:

The press interest in the story

How damaging the journalist's source was to the Government

Whether there is 'overriding public interest' to identify a source

Whether the journalist has refused a court order to release the information

. Under Section 11 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), 'journalistic material which a person holds in _______' is categorised as 'excluded material'.

. Journalists should guarantee confidentiality to any source who asks for it.

True

False

. Section 10 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 says that no court can require a person to disclose a source of information unless the court is satisfied that certain criteria apply. What are those criteria?

The court is satisfied that disclosure is necessary 'in the interests of the protection of privacy, or for the apprehension of wrongdoers, or for the maintenance of the court's functions'

The court is satisfied that disclosure is necessary 'in the interests of justice or national security, or for the prevention of disorder or crime'

The court is satisfied that disclosure is necessary 'to prevent the public being misled by a person or organisation, or to protect the public's health or safety'

The court is satisfied that disclosure is necessary 'in the interests of a lawfully trading business, or of an official agency concerned with upholding the law, or to protect the human rights of any person resident in the UK'

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