“Your 10 questions for would-be MPs” – Henry Porter, The Guardian.

“Ten reasons to feel uneasy” – Anthony Barnett, opendemocracy.net

Last night I was at the launch of Keith Ewing’s new book Bonfire of the Liberties – “a provocative book which confronts the corrosion of civil liberties under successive New Labour governments since 1997.”

I was one of the speakers at this packed out event held at NUJ headquarters along side Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary; Henry Porter, novelist and political columnist for The Observer; Dave Smith, from the Blacklist Support Group; Cerie Bullivant, who was on a control order for two years and Pennie Quinton, who took Section 44 to Strasbourg.

Dave Smith’s contribution on blacklisting in the UK construction industry and the attacks on trade unionists was very powerful.

We have to keep an eye on databases of multinationals as much as the states. It is important to defend our Article 11 rights as trade unionists to meet without being put under surveillance and harassed, by either the state or private companies.

The investigations on police surveillance of protesters and journalists as well as the covert state targeting of environmental activists that I worked on with Paul Lewis at The Guardian are mentioned in Ewing’s book which was a nice surprise.

“Photographer and investigative journalist Marc Vallée on protests, breaking stories and police poundings” – ideastap.com

The nice folks at Ideas Tap interviewed me last week about my work and here it is. You have to sign up to view it or you could click here.

“Reporting the BNP” – reportingthebnp.org

Reporting the BNP – A Practical Guide for Journalists – is a new National Union of Journalists website that highlights the important role journalists have when covering the far right British National Party.

Well worth taking a look at.

“Photographer stopped and searched three times during Israeli goods protest” – journalism.co.uk

“Journalists angry at ‘stop and search’ harassment” – National Union of Journalists.

On Sunday I got a phone call from London Photographers’ Branch member Philip Caller. Philip told me he had just been stopped & searched 3 times in 45 minutes by the police on a job covering a protest in west London. Philip had been stopped and searched under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) and here are the pictures.

Yesterday the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) issued a statement on this. This is what Roy Mincoff the NUJ legal officer had to say:

“This is an example of straightforward harassment which is totally unacceptable in a country which presumes to lecture other regimes on freedom of expression. While we receive assurances from senior police officers and politicians that reporters and photographers will not face interference when carrying out their legitimate work, it is clear that the instructions to junior ranks are still not getting through to all officers.

STOP & SEARCH TWO: Philip Caller being stopped & searched under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) at 8.15am on Sunday 7 February 2010 in London, England. Photo by Philip Caller. (c) Philip Caller, 2010. Published here by kind permission of Philip Caller.

STOP & SEARCH THREE: Philip Caller being stopped & searched under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) at 8.35am on Sunday 7 February 2010 in London, England. Photo by Philip Caller. (c) Philip Caller, 2010. Published here by kind permission of Philip Caller.

I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! – photographernotaterrorist.org

“Press Clippings: I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!” – marcvallee.co.uk

Grant Smith and yours truly being interviewed on BBC News 24 in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 23 January 2010 before 3,000 photographers congregated for the “I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!” Mass Photo Gathering event.

Pictures: “Mass Photography Demonstration Against Police Stop & Search Powers” – gettyimages.com

Here are a few of the better press clippings I have found of the 3,000 strong I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! event in Trafalgar Square yesterday. It is a shame that the BBC News 24 broadcast is not up online as I have been told it was pretty good. Feel free to let me know of anything I have missed that is worth taking a look at. It was great to see so many photographers in one place – until next time!

“Photographers protest against police stop and search” – The Guardian.

“Photographers protest over UK terror search laws” – BBC News.

“Snappers Protest Over Police Search Powers” – Sky News.

“Photographers protest UK terror law” – CNN.

“Photographers protest in Trafalgar Square” – ITN News.

“Photographers protest against police use of anti-terror laws” – Daily Telegraph

A few of the 3,000 strong I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! photographers go for some light refreshments after the event. Picture published here by kind permission of the Unknown Snapper.

Media Release: “Mass Photo Gathering in Defence of Street Photography” – photographernotaterrorist.org

“We’re photographers, not terrorists” – Marc Vallée, The Guardian.

Looking forward to seeing you all later today!

“Photographers unite to tackle avalanche” – National Union of Journalists.

Today I transferred my NUJ membership over to the new London Photographers’ Branch (LPB) and I’m looking forward to the inaugural meeting in just under two weeks time. If you are an NUJ member – full, temporary or student – and a photographer or lens based journalists “who lives in London or who carries out the majority of their work for clients based in London” then this is the NUJ Branch for you.

Below is a media release from the NUJ HQ about the new branch and how to join.

NUJ Media Release: Photographers unite to tackle avalanche

You don’t have to go to the Alps to experience an avalanche, photographers in every sector of the media have experienced an avalanche of jobs cuts, picture rate cuts, pay freezes and unprecedented workloads.

Media companies blame the recession and an inability to find a way to monetise content online – but they have been whittling away jobs, picture rates and conditions for years.

Photographers in London are coming together to form a new NUJ branch for freelance, staff and agency photographers to unite and defend photographers’ rights and terms and conditions.

The London Photographers’ Branch will hold its inaugural meeting on Tuesday, January 26th, at 6pm in the union’s head office, Headland House.

Membership of the Branch is open to any NUJ photographer who lives in London or who carries out the majority of their work for clients based in London.

To transfer your membership to the new Branch, you should contact the NUJ Membership Department at paulg@nuj.org.uk before January 26th.

NUJ President Pete Murray said: “This new branch is a really exciting development bringing together those who have for many years campaigned hard for the rights of photographers. The launch of the branch will boost the effectiveness of such work and give it the profile it deserves in the industry and in the union”.

A brief and selected review of 2009 – in no particular order.

Documenting political dissent, front page investigations, press freedom, Section 76, photographers rights, Section 44, the G20, a good day, a bad day, media interviews, winning an award, a face for radio, suing the Met (again), thinking about space, police surveillance, Huck Magazine, death threats, lunch, photographers organising, the Frontline Club, skateboarding, protest boys, looking back, Twitter, McCarthyite games & thinking about far off lands.

All said and done 2009 was a full on year. One wonders what 2010 has in store?

“Reporting terrorism: NUJ Ethics Council guidelines” – National Union of Journalists.

The National Union of Journalists Ethics Council has produced a set of guidelines for journalists covering “terrorism cases” – well worth taking a look at.

Let’s face it some need to read it more then others!