Journalists must be able to protect their sources

For a journalist, protecting sources is essential. Many have even gone to prison to defend these relationships, knowing quite rightly that whistleblowers will not talk to them if they know their details can just be handed over.

But, shockingly, it seems the police have been engaging in wide-scale targeting of journalists. They obtained the phone records of Sun political editor Tom Newton Dunn and many others.

The interception of communications commissioner, Sir Anthony May, found that in the last three years 19 police forces put in more than 600 applications to view journalists’ phone records to identify their sources.

Related: Clegg urges May to pass law protecting journalist sources before poll

This is unacceptable. It risks jeopardising investigative journalism and freedom of speech. How will anyone be brave enough to contact a journalist in the public interest, if they know that they can easily be tracked down?

What’s more, these actions have clearly discouraged whistleblowers from coming forward, having a chilling effect on free speech.

At the moment the police quite rightly need the approval of a judge before they can take documents from a journalist. But they authorise themselves to access the journalist’s mobile phone records and other communications data. This cannot be right.

As a matter of principle, police and security services should not be able to authorise themselves to snoop on journalists to get to their sources. It may be convenient for the police but it’s not right for freedom of the press and it’s not right for the whistleblowers who badly need protection.

Indeed, May has confirmed in his report that this can give rise to violations of Article 10 of the European convention on human rights – the right to free expression – and that the police have failed to give proper consideration to this when signing off applications for data.

He recommended that a judge should have to approve any request for communications data that would identify the source of journalistic information.

I agree completely, as do the Liberal Democrats. Nick Clegg has written to the home secretary, Theresa May, asking her to implement this in law before the general election but to date she hasn’t done so.

This fits with a pattern. Conservative ministers flirt with providing greater protections to public interest journalism but then back away from actually doing so.

We are running out of time in this parliament to actually fix this problem, not just talk about doing so. So I’ve decided to act.

I’ve proposed an amendment to the serious crime bill to fix this and make sure we protect not just journalists and their sources but also respect legal privilege, including confidential conversations with healthcare professionals, ministers of religion and MPs.

I’m delighted that this is supported by my own party but also that I’m getting increasing support from other parties.

We cannot wait longer while whistleblowers are silenced, journalists cannot protect their sources and investigative journalism is stymied.

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