The event will be chaired by Stephen Mayes, Secretary to the World Press Photo Jury and Managing Director of VII Photo Agency.
“Join a panel of professional photographers and experts as they discuss arguably one of the most important issues faced today by both professional and amateur photographers alike, where freedom to photograph in public ends and where privacy and restriction begins. The panel includes photographer Marc Vallée; Damien Demolder, Editor of Amateur Photographer magazine; Media Lawyer Campbell Deane; and Linda Macpherson of the UK Photographers Rights Guide; they will explore this contentious area, trying to make sense of what many feel are legal ambiguities surrounding public photography.”
“Earlier this month the government said police would need stronger grounds before stopping and searching photographers on suspicion of terrorism. While welcoming this repeal of s44 of the Terrorism Act, photographer Marc Vallée says he still has concerns about police conduct, which he puts to ACPO’s spokesman on this, Craig Mackey, Cumbria’s Chief Constable.”
You can also download a podcast of the show from here.
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.
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.
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!
Last week my friend and colleague Paul Lewis took a walk in the City of London and ended up getting stopped and searched under section 44 of the Terrorism Act.
I wrote a Comment is free about how society’s visual history is under threat.
Over the last two days I have done interviews for The Independent and BBC News on the impact anti-terrorism laws on public photography. I was also asked to go on Channel 4 News and BBC Breakfast. But let’s face it I have a face for radio, so no surprise the TV interviews did not work out – but I was thinking about it!
But seriously, why is the act of making a picture deemed by the state to be so potentially threatening? Why is photography routinely criminalised? Anti-terrorism legislation talks about creating a hostile environment for ‘terrorists’ to operate but the reality is that it has created a hostile environment for public photography. This has had an incredibly detrimental effect on freedom of expression.
On Tuesday I was on a panel at the Frontline Club to discuss the way anti-terrorism legislation affects the media. Above is the Frontline Club video of the discussion.
