Broadcasters to challenge police over Dale Farm footage order

The BBC, ITN and Sky News are challenging attempts by Essex police to force them to disclose two days' worth of unbroadcast footage of the Dale Farm eviction in October. The broadcasters will contest the wide-ranging production order, which covers all footage filmed at the UK's largest Travellers' camp on 18 and 19 October, in a court hearing in Chelmsford on Tuesday. The freelance journalist who filmed the controversial footage of police apparently using stun guns at close range during the eviction is also fighting the production order, alongside Hardcash Productions, the independent production company behind BBC1's Panorama special, Dale Farm: The Big Eviction . Essex police said it believes the footage could help to identify people responsible for "the assault of a number of officers" during clashes between Travellers and its officers. The media routinely challenge pressure from police to hand over unbroadcast footage of public disorder to avoid being seen as a surveillance arm of the authorities. However, this attempt is understood to have been more fiercely opposed because the orders are not restricted to footage of the clashes. Police want material from both days of the eviction, including non-violent footage of Travellers. "The fact they are going for everything across the two days clearly shows to me this is not just about gaining additional material to prosecute, it is a fishing exercise to gather intelligence," said Jason Parkinson, the freelance journalist challenging the order. Essex police said: "Footage from the media is thought to identify the people responsible for these offences who have fought to conceal their identities." A spokeswoman for the force said that it needed images of those responsible for the violence in different states of dress to help identify them. In deciding whether to grant a production order, judges are supposed to weigh the interest of the police in obtaining evidence with the public interest in a free press. Parkinson said that being forced to comply with the order would compromise his work. "I am resisting the order because I believe it will have serious consequences on my ability, and the ability of those in my profession, to report future events," he said. "I believe it will increase an already growing trend of intimidation and violence against members of the press in such situations, which I think is being caused by the increase in the use of production orders that we have seen, particularly since the student protests of 2010. "I do fear it won't be long before we do see a journalist killed on the streets of the UK and I do fear it will be because the media will be seen as part of the state apparatus." • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook Ç