Britain Aims Terrorist Act at TV Network

In an apparently unprecedented move, British criminal prosecutors are invoking the nation’s sweeping anti-terrorism laws in an effort to force a television network to reveal its confidential sources for a documentary about police involvement in Northern Ireland death squads.

Channel 4, the British network that broadcast the hard-hitting documentary on Oct. 2, has refused to identify its key source or others involved in making the program. As a result, the broadcasting company could face unlimited fines and seizure of assets.

“This action attacks the ability of responsible television journalists to reveal information of importance to the public,” said Channel 4 chief executive Michael Grade. “If journalists investigating terrorist activity cannot protect their sources, matters of legitimate public concern will become journalistic no-go areas.”

Article 19, an international anti-censorship organization, condemned the prosecutors’ action as a “direct threat to the international law on freedom of expression and information.”

The British Department of Public Prosecutions received permission from the High Court this week to start contempt-of-court proceedings against Channel 4 and Box Productions, the independent filmmakers who produced the show for the TV network. Prosecutions department officials are seeking information from Channel 4 under the provisions of the 1989 Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Under that act, police investigating terrorist activities are given widespread powers to seize news media materials that normally would be protected under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

Liz Forgan, director of programs at Channel 4, said that “no journalist likes using anonymous sources,” but “there are some stories you just can’t get any other way.”

The documentary in question, “The Committee,” was broadcast as part of “Dispatches,” Channel 4’s main current-affairs series.

The film alleges the existence of a secret terrorist organization in Northern Ireland that includes members of the police force, Protestant paramilitary groups and prominent businessmen, and organizes the sectarian murders of pro-Republican Catholics. The secret organization is known as the “Inner Force” and is run by an “Inner Circle,” the film alleges.

Charges of collusion between the supposedly impartial security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalist terrorist groups is nothing new. But unlike previous stories, the Channel 4 documentary had a self-described member of the “Inner Force” as its chief source. The source agreed to participate under the condition he would not be identified.

Channel 4 officials say they are certain the source’s life would be in danger if his identity is revealed.

While making the film, the producers apprised the police in Northern Ireland of their findings and sought comment. The police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), refused to have a spokesman appear on camera.

But the day after the film was broadcast, the RUC chief issued a press release denouncing it as “an unjust and unsubstantiated slur.”

Soon after, Channel 4 gave the police a thick dossier of material about the “Inner Force,” which the broadcasters felt would help investigators uncover the workings of the secret group. Network officials said the documentary was not a case of protecting terrorists, but of trying to expose and prevent terrorism.

On Oct. 31, Channel 4 and Box Productions were ordered, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, to hand over all evidence relating to the film, including names and addresses of all sources.

Channel 4 decided not to comply, citing the life-threatening danger it would pose for their source. Several court hearings followed. They remained secret because of British laws that effectively make it illegal to disclose information about a terrorism investigation.

Finally, when prosecutors received court approval this week to begin contempt-of-court proceedings against Channel 4, the network decided to call public attention to the case. No date is set for the next court hearing, but it is likely to occur in June, the network’s lawyer said.

Channel 4 also is engaged in a press freedom court battle in the United States with the Rev. Donald Wildmon, who is trying to block any American screening of “Damned in the USA,” the network’s documentary about arts censorship in the United States.