To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on freedom of the press of arrests of journalists in Kent and Northern Ireland covering protests.
Answered on
8 February 2021
Decisions on arrests are an operational matter for the police. They do so in line with their duties to keep the peace, to protect communities, and to prevent the commission of offences, working within the provisions of the legal framework set by Parliament.
The Government is clear that freedom of the press is an absolute priority. That is why the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport set up the National Committee for the Safety of Journalists last year which brings together representatives from government, journalism, policing, prosecution services and civil society. The Committee will publish its National Action Plan shortly.