Journalist safety liaison officers now work across every UK police force, giving reporters a dedicated contact when they face abuse or threats. Journalist safety liaison officers form part of a national plan to protect media freedom. This is welcome news for anyone whose quiet afternoon involves asking a council where the money went.
Journalist safety liaison officers meet the paperwork dragon
The scheme gives journalists and media employers a single point of contact. It also offers practical advice before high risk assignments. Officers should help police record crimes against reporters more consistently. That is a serious attempt to stop people doing an important job from navigating danger with the administrative support of a satnav in a field.
The Government says every police force now has a Journalist Safety Liaison Officer. The network supports the National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists. It also sits alongside plans to support local media. Local newsrooms must inform communities, investigate power and somehow do it with fewer people, fewer resources and a printer that treats toner as a personal boundary.
In this invented comic scene, Gerald Pintglass, fictional coordinator at the Department of Calm Correspondence, welcomes the system. “Reporters now have one clear route for support,” he says. “Naturally, that route begins with finding the correct officer, confirming the correct force and proving that the email containing the instructions did not reach the wrong newsroom.”
One contact, several forms and a very tidy promise
“Single point of contact” sounds reassuring. It works best when the point of contact answers. Otherwise, the phrase becomes a polished sign above an inbox that replies with a link to general enquiries.
Journalist safety liaison officers should turn institutional concern into practical help. They should not merely give concern a lanyard and an inbox. The source announcement says the officers can offer safety guidance before high risk work, respond to abuse or intimidation and help ensure crimes against journalists receive consistent attention.
There is nothing comic about journalists facing threats. The comic contradiction sits elsewhere. An institution describes protection as a neat partnership while local reporters hold powerful people to account in conditions resembling a group project where the group has left.
Journalist safety liaison officers need more than neat language
The officers are meant to help journalism work without fear. That is a useful ambition. It needs more than polished language and carefully routed messages. The public will judge the scheme by the help reporters receive, not by the smoothness of its acronym.
At least the form has a witness statement. The witness statement has requested a police escort.
Source: Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Home Office announcement.
