Culture secretary criticises police questioning of Guardian reporter

Jeremy Hunt stresses difference between off-the-record briefings and payments to police revealed by phone-hacking investigation The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has criticised the decision by police to question a Guardian journalist over alleged leaks from Scotland Yard’s phone-hacking inquiry. The cabinet minister told MPs: “There is an important difference between off-the-record briefing and the payment of money by or to the police in return for information. “Journalists must operate within the law, but, as the prime minister told the [parliamentary] liaison committee, as we go through this entire process we must be careful not to overreact in a way that would undermine the foundations of a free society.” Hunt was responding to a question by Tom Watson, the Labour MP for West Bromwich East, who said: “There is a world of difference between a journalist who bribes a police officer for information and a journalist who gets information from a police officer, freely given. The former corrodes our democracy, while the latter protects it.” Guardian journalist Amelia Hill, who part of the Guardian’s team reporting on the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, was questioned by police under caution several days ago in a move that has been condemned by the NUJ and media watchdog the Media Standards Trust. A 51-year-old detective was arrested last month in connection with alleged leaks from the Scotland Yard phone-hacking investigation. At the time there were reports that the officer had passed information to the Guardian. However, the newspaper said at the time it had “no comment to make on the sources of our journalism”. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk 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 at and Facebook . Phone hacking The Guardian Press freedom Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers James Robinson guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 8, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.