Dear reader, you will no doubt be happy to hear that the journalists constantly inciting antifascist thugs to attack BNP activists last week had a taste of their own medicine.

This is an article published in the lefty rag The Guardian last week, it will put a smile on the face of anyone who has had to bear the smears and lies peddled by MSM.

Journalists and photographers came under attack on Monday as London faced its third consecutive day of violent riots in the capital.

Mark Stone, the Sky News reporter, was lauded for his bravery on Monday night after he left his home near Clapham Junction to record looting on his iPhone.

Stone, who recently returned from reporting the conflict in Libya, memorably accosted looters and asked: “Are you proud of what you’re doing?” One young woman responded that she was “just getting my taxes back”.

Shortly afterwards he was chased by rioters and forced to flee, but returned to report live to camera on the aftermath of the Clapham Junction disturbance after Sky News dispatched a satellite truck, entering a looted Boots store and fetching an empty packet of Imodium from the litter-strewn floor.

Reporters from the BBC and Sky News were forced to retreat from London Road in Croydon, after their vehicles had their windows smashed by rioters.

CNN reporter Dan Rivers, kitted out in a helmet and what looked like body armour under his jumper, and his cameraman were caught between rioters and a police line in Peckham. They beat a hasty retreat as bottles and other missiles began to rain down.

ITN, the producer of ITV News, Channel 4 News and London Tonight, had its broadcasting van attacked shortly after a peace vigil held by community leaders in Tottenham earlier in the evening. Kris Jepson, the Channel 4 News reporter, said on Twitter that a cameraman’s equipment had been smashed in the scuffle.

Mark Evans, the home news editor at Sky News, praised Stone’s commitment – and pointed out that he was not technically on duty. He said the broadcaster’s correspondents were given a special security briefing on Tuesday morning.

BBC News journalists are understood to be receiving a similar briefing later in the day, in preparation for a fourth night of unrest in the capital.

“Mark’s a very committed and brave young journalist,” Evans told MediaGuardian.co.uk. “His use of kit shows how technically minded both he and Sky News are. We don’t have the same kind of kit and resources that our competitors do and the use of iPhones and other tools allows us to be first.”

Sky News had about eight reporters and eight cameramen covering the unrest in London and Birmingham on Monday night.

The BBC and ITN declined to say how many reporters they had on the ground, although off-duty journalists were phoning in reports from across London for all the broadcasters.

An ITN spokesman said: “We are monitoring the situation closely and are only deploying staff who are trained and experienced in reporting in such circumstances.”

The BBC and Sky News are understood to have used hired private security guards to accompany their cameramen for the past two nights, after they attracted hostility on Saturday. Both those broadcasters pulled out their TV crews from Tottenham at 1am on Sunday morning, after the first wave of violent protests earlier on Saturday evening.

BBC1 ditched regular programming on Tuesday morning to provide live coverage of David Cameron’s announcement that he was recalling parliament in response to the disorder, and Channel 4 News aired a special midday bulletin.

However there is something else that needs bringing to the attention of the public, and has been completely ignored by MSM.

Apparently the NUJ is putting pressure on media organizations not to pass onto the Police any videos of the rioting.

This is the press statement made by the NUJ that they must find hard to justify, as it prevents the prosecution of criminals.

Might it be that some of these rioters are also antifascists with which the NUJ has close links?

NUJ blog 13th August 2011

The union condemns politicians calls for news-gathered images and video to be used as police evidence and calls on journalists to ensure that the police use the proper procedures if they wish to see material, which hasn’t been broadcast, of the events surrounding the riots and social unrest across the country over the last week.

The union wants all media organisations to make strong representations to the court to protect the confidentiality of Journalistic Material and Special Procedure Material under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and under the European Convention on Human Rights.

There are special protections for journalistic material and procedures that the police should follow and the NUJ will seek to defend the confidentiality of journalist’s material and sources.

The NUJ has a long and proud record in fighting to protect journalists faced with actions over sources or journalistic material. It is important we do not allow the police to use journalists as information gatherers for their purposes. Such a move places all journalists at greater risk when covering public order issues and stops sources coming forward. The NUJ stance has been confirmed in various cases before the UK and European courts.

Journalists have been attacked during the civil unrest and the union believes that attempts to compel journalists to provide evidence to the police will put our members at risk.

Covering protests, both nationally and internationally, is already difficult and often dangerous for journalists. The danger increases if the images and video gathered whilst reporting events is used by the state. With many accounts of injuries and equipment damage already reported, the calls from politicians to hand-over press material will only increases the risks.

GIUSEPPE DE SANTIS

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