(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is astonished by the methods used by the Cambridge police, who have asked several hundred journalists, under threat of prosecution, to hand over information gathered on the case of the murders of two young girls, Holly and Jessica. “The abuses of certain journalists, the seriousness of the crime and the emotion felt […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is astonished by the methods used by the Cambridge police, who have asked several hundred journalists, under threat of prosecution, to hand over information gathered on the case of the murders of two young girls, Holly and Jessica.
“The abuses of certain journalists, the seriousness of the crime and the emotion felt by an entire country do not justify calling into question a principle as essential to press freedom as the protection of sources,” stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “We believe that cooperation between magistrates and journalists must remain voluntary. To compel journalists, under threat of prosecution, to hand over information to the justice system is to make news professionals into representatives of the law,” added Ménard.
On 12 September 2002, Cambridge police announced that questionnaires would be sent to all journalists (about 400 journalists in total) who covered the Holly and Jessica case, asking if they would be willing to provide information that could prove useful to the investigation. According to the “Guardian”, the questionnaire specifies that police could require them to co-operate through a court order.
Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both aged 10, disappeared on 4 August in Soham (central England) and were found dead 13 days later in a wooded area. Some journalists offered rewards to obtain information. Others interviewed the alleged murderer, Ian Huntley, and his girlfriend Maxine Carr, charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, before they were arrested. Journalists wrote numerous articles about the couple’s past and interviewed potential witnesses, which could compromise the investigation’s objectivity and jeopardising the legal proceedings against the accused.
