Students jump and shout as they march down Millbank in London on a national demonstation called jointly by the NUS and UCU against a rise in tuition fees and cuts to higher education. Image © Jonathan Warren 2010.

It’s a month today since the first students from Goldsmiths occupied Deptford Town Hall to protest against the coalition governments proposed cuts to higher education. Whilst they only managed to occupy the building for 24 hours it has led to a wave of other occupations across the country.

A week later, a day after the massive protest in London organised by the NUS and UCU, students at Manchester University occupied the administrative block on the campus.

Aaron Porter, President of the NUS, was quick to condemn the vandalism of the Conservative Party HQ at Millbank Tower on the 10th of November. But others seized the moment, perhaps realising the depth and intensity of students anger that the Lib Dems were going to renege on their pre-election pledge to oppose a rise in tuition fees.

There have been large protests the past two weeks in cities across the country, with thousands of school and college students walking out of lessons to join the protests as the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme is under threat as well.

The movement is showing no signs of slowing and on the 24th of November, the first day of action called after the Millbank protests, 15 separate Universities went into occupation, 6 of which are still going.

There are currently 16 Universities across the country occupied by students and at 9 o’clock last night London Metropolitan University became the 31st occupation since Goldsmiths started. That means students have been occupying their universities at a rate of one every day.

Next week will potentially see the biggest protests yet as MPs are set to vote on the rise in tuition fees in Parliament. Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable, who has tabled the legislation, has said he may even abstain on the vote. Liberal Democrats were going to hold a conference this weekend in Haverstock School to decide how they are going to vote, but it has been cancelled after protests were called outside the school.

Although this student uprising lacks a single core political ideology, students have been quick to identify with other struggles on the left. Occupations in London sent delegations to the RMT and TSSA picket lines during their strike earlier this week and other trade unionists have visited the occupations to give their support.

One of the most interesting characteristics of the movement is it’s clear anti-government agenda. Protesters aren’t simply opposed to a rise in tuition fees and cuts to EMA, but to the government’s entire proposed austerity agenda and the rhetoric protesters are using on the street is to bring down the government.

The committee room was packed out with journalists, academics and students. All crammed in to hear about what could be done to secure the future of local and regional journalism in the UK.

Austin Mitchell MP

The meeting was introduced by Austin Mitchell MP, convener of the NUJ parliamentary group; Nick Couldry, Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy and Des Freedman, Lecturer in Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths.

[audio:democracy-without-journalists/intro.mp3|titles=Austin Mitchell MP - Nick Couldry & Des Freedman]

Professor James Curran

First to speak was Professor James Curran

[audio:democracy-without-journalists/james-curran.mp3|titles=Professor James Curran]

Angela Phillips

Next was Angela Phillips who talked about the hyper-local East London Lines blog that she runs at Goldsmiths

[audio:democracy-without-journalists/angela-phillips.mp3|titles=Angela Phillips]

Professor Stephen Coleman

The final speaker before some audience contributions was Professor Stephen Coleman

[audio:democracy-without-journalists/stephen-coleman.mp3|titles=Professor Stephen Coleman]

The Democracy Without Journalists rally in the Thatcher room of Portcullis House.

There was then a short section for the audience to contribute to the discussion

[audio:democracy-without-journalists/audience1.mp3|titles=Audience Contributions]

Natalie Fenton

Back to the speakers and Natalie Fenton from Goldsmiths talked about their research about civil society and news media

[audio:democracy-without-journalists/natalie-fenton.mp3|titles=Natalie Fenton]

Steve Hewlett

Fresh from Broadcasting House was Steve Hewlett who talked about local TV news

[audio:democracy-without-journalists/steve-hewlett.mp3|titles=Steve Hewlett]

Evan Harris MP

There was then a quick update from Evan Harris MP on libel reform work that he had been doing

[audio:democracy-without-journalists/evan-harris.mp3|titles=Evan Harris]

Jeremy Dear

General Secretary of the NUJ Jeremy Dear was the final speaker

[audio:democracy-without-journalists/jeremy-dear.mp3|titles=Jeremy Dear]

The Democracy Without Journalists rally in the Thatcher room of Portcullis House.

There was then a final half hour of discussion with the audience

[audio:democracy-without-journalists/audience2.mp3|titles=Audience]

Last night seven of the eight candidates for the next editor of the NUJ’s magazine the Journalist were at hustings hosted by London Press & PR Branch at the NUJ’s head office in Kings Cross.

Each candidate was first given five minutes to introduce themselves and their candidacy after which questions were taken from the audience.

Between the seven candidates almost all sectors of the industry were represented, with a heavy leaning towards print. Candidates varied greatly in their union involvement – Christine Buckley, Michael Cross and Mark Watts all used the phrase “I’m a journalist, not an activist”

One of the most divisive subjects between the candidates was the level of involvement that online should have. Some said it should continue in it’s current form as ‘complementary’ with a PDF of the print edition, others were much bolder in their proposals of daily news items online, more discussion of issues and the use of social media.

Candidates were asked how they would generate income outside the central funding allocated to the magazine, Steve Usher said “The magazine is a potential goldmine to fund all the web work we need to do. It goes out to over 40,000 ABC1 journalists, advertisers offered that will go for it big time” Richard Simcox proposed that revenue should be increased by the recruitment of new members, not advertising. He quipped “I’m a union rep, not an ad sales rep” Mark Watts said that as the Journalist was specialist content he would charge non-union members for access online.

You can listen to each of the candidates introduction and the Q&A below:

Steve Usher
[audio:journalist-hustings/steve-usher.mp3|titles=Steve Usher]

Christine Buckley
[audio:journalist-hustings/christine-buckley.mp3|titles=Christine Buckley]

Richard Simcox
[audio:journalist-hustings/richard-simcox.mp3|titles=Richard Simcox]

Mark Watts
[audio:journalist-hustings/mark-watts.mp3|titles=Mark Watts]

Michael Cross
[audio:journalist-hustings/michael-cross.mp3|titles=Michael Cross]

Tim Arnold
[audio:journalist-hustings/tim-arnold.mp3|titles=Tim Arnold]

David Tilley
[audio:journalist-hustings/david-tilley.mp3|titles=David Tilley]

Frank Morgan – Read by Tim Gospil
[audio:journalist-hustings/frank-morgan.mp3|titles=Frank-Morgan]

Q & A
[audio:journalist-hustings/qanda.mp3|titles=Q and A]

Disclosure: I am supporting Richard Simcox and have been part of his online campaign.

I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! is a new campaign group set up by photographers who are fed up with the restrictions photographers face while working on the streets or, in some cases, even fields.

We will fight back against the use of terrorism legislation against photographers and the abuse by the police of stop & search powers simply because people are taking photographs.

We’ll collect accounts from people who have been stopped and searched or harassed by officials for taking photographs in public places and we have produced a ‘Stop & Search Bust Card’ summarising your rights when stopped under the Terrorism Acts. When the officers performing searches sometimes don’t seem to know the law themselves it’s vital for photographers to know what the police can and can’t do.

The police won’t even tell us where S44 (allowing police to stop and search anyone without any suspicion in a designated area) is in force so we’ll be mapping where people have reported being stopped and searched to build up a picture of how the powers are being used and abused.

We’ll be doing more than just watching, reporting and raising awareness. After the success of the event outside New Scotland Yard highlighting the Alice in Wonderland craziness of new laws against photographing police officers earlier this year we’ll be arranging more events around the country to expose how ridiculous this legislation is and how pointless the restrictions are in pseudo-public places like shopping centres or Canary Wharf.

We are photographers, not terrorists. We need to fight back against this repressive legislation and start a proper campaign for the right to photograph before photography becomes a part of history rather than a way of recording it.

This post originally appeared on Photo Legal

Last night Suzanne Breen, Northern Ireland Editor of the (Dublin) Sunday Tribune, flew in to the NUJ headqaurters on Grays Inn Road to talk to members about the case being brought against her by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) under the Terrorism Act (2000) to reveal her sources in the Real IRA.

Also speaking were Bill Goodwin, the technology journalist who set an EU legal precident to protect his source in a case brought against him by Tetra. Sir Geoffary Bindman senior lawyer and founder of Bindmans solicitors. Jo Glanville from Index on Censorship and Mark Stephens media and libel specialist lawyer with Finers Stephens Innocent.

The panel were in agreement that the the security services use of of journalists as intelligence gathers by using production orders against them was unacceptable and a threat not only to press freedom but in Breens case a threat to her life if she is forced to reveal her source.

It’s worth listening to the whole audio but of particualur interest is Suzanne Breens comment on her case as well as the excellent speach by Mark Stephens on the protection of sources. In the Q & A at the end there is also a contributon by Shiv Malik, who was  served with a production order by police recently and fought through the courts to have the scope of the order greatly reduced.

The panel was led by Michelle Stanistreet, Deputy General Secretary of the NUJ and started off the session with letters of support they had recieved:[audio:suzannebreen/intro.mp3|titles=Introduction by Michelle Stanistreet DGS NUJ]

Suzanne Breen, discusses the case brought against her by the PSNI

Next Suzanne discussed her case and how she met members of the UDA above a fish and chip shop:[audio:suzannebreen/suzanne.mp3|titles=Suzanne Breen]

Bill Goodwin on going to the EU courts

Then Bill Goodwin talked about his case with Tetra and how they hired a writ server to wait outside his house all day to serve him with injunctions throughout the case.

[audio:suzannebreen/billgoodwin.mp3|titles=Bill Goodwin]

Sir Geoffary Bindman on protecting sources

Sir Geoffrey Bindman talked about the Goodwin case, which he worked on and the difficulty of journalists protecting sources under new terrorism laws.

[audio:suzannebreen/bindman.mp3|titles=Sir Geoffrey Bindman]

Jo Glanville on the misuse of terrorism laws against journalists

Jo Glanville talked about the misuse of production orders against journalists and how they were used in cases were the information had already been published.

[audio:suzannebreen/joglanville.mp3|titles=Jo Glanville from Index on Censorship]

Mark Stephens on security services using the media.

Finally the eminently quotable Mark Stephens discussed how the security services had become lazy and used journalists as an extension of their intelligence gathering.

[audio:suzannebreen/markstephens.mp3|titles=Mark Stephens from Finers Stephens Innocent]

The Q&A raised some interesting points and featured Shiv Malik who was served with a production order as well as Anna Mazolla solicitor from Hickman & Rose

[audio:suzannebreen/qanda.mp3|titles=Q and A with the panel]

On Monday Commander Broadhurst, head of public order at the Metropolitan Police spoke at the NUJ Photographers Conference and with all the events over the past few years he received a rather frosty response from those there.

The Commander was heckled off the platform as he began to question the legitimacy of those carrying press cards. He asked in his speech, probably rhetorically but received some very pointed answers:

I don’t know what vetting system there is for holding an NUJ card. Can anybody who has a camera apply for an NUJ card? [...] How do we manage who’s doing what? legitimately or otherwise.

- Commander Broadhurst, Metropolitan Police

He went on to question the motives of journalists working in public order situations and it quickly descended into a shouting match between the conference and the Commander. Probably sensing he had dug himself deep enough into a hole he left the platform and went into answering questions.

It’s well worth listening to both the Commanders speech and the discussion afterwards as it probably explains a lot towards the treatment of press photographers by police over the last few years. If the man in charge of public order policing doesn’t know how the UK Press Card works it’s little surprise so few police respect it.

[audio:http://jwarren.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/broadhurst1.mp3|titles=Commander Broadhursts speech to the NUJ Photographers Conference.] The Commanders Speech.

[audio:http://jwarren.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/broadhurst2.mp3|titles=Discussion with Commander Broadhurst at the NUJ Photographers Conference.] Discussion with Commander Broadhurst.

We must not under any circumstances unwittingly put ourselves in a situation where photographers, journalists or others may feel that they do not have the right and do not believe that they can pursue their professional job and the public interest.

Vernon Coaker MP

Yet one day before when photojournalist Marc Vallée and videographer Jason Parkinson were covering a protest outside the Greek Embassy, both were assaulted and restricted from carrying out their jobs by Police.

Parkinson has posted a video rush of one of the incidents on Current.tv which you can view here:

What I find most shocking is not the officer placing his hand over both the journalists camera’s, clearly he’s not read the new media guidelines, it’s when he says ‘Scum’ as he walks away. Not only an incredibly stupid thing to say in front of a camera, but extremely unprofessional to say the least. He was an armed diplomatic protection officer and should definitely know better.

Sadly this is the latest in a long series of ongoing incidents of Police intimidating and attacking the press.

Photojournalist Marc Vallée is filmed by an officer of the Police Foward Intelligence Team

Yesterday the Brighton based group SmashEDO held a protest against the arms manufacturer EDO MBM whose factory is based in Moulescoomb just outside of Brighton. Past protests outside the factory have been violent, with protesters getting inside the compound, smashing windows and entering the factory.

This time was no different, with arrests taking place before the march had started and riot police being deployed using batons, shields and CS spray.

But half an hour before the protest was due to start as my colleague and I sat in the car a member of the Police Forward Intelligence Team (FIT) began filming us from across the road before coming over and asking who we were. After identifying ourselves as members of the press and showing our UK Press cards the officer continued to question and film us. 

Whilst this was not as bad as the treatment we received at Climate Camp earlier in the year where our car was continually stopped and searched by police, in one case officers knew who I was and that I was journalist before I even spoke to them but I was searched regardless.

Later on when we left the car and stood under the covering of a railway station to shelter from the rain whilst we waited for the protest to begin Police told us that we would have to move and weren’t allowed to photograph near the station where protesters would be arriving.

There is no law against photographing railway stations or their surrounds, this officer was clearly being officious and confrontational, but I felt that if I had taken a picture I would of been very quickly bundled into the back of a police van.

During the protest journalists were also assaulted by police, photojournalist Marc Vallée was pushed back violently as he was photographing protesters and photographer Guy Smallman was bitten by a police attack dog which required medical attention.

The Police’s job would certainly be easier if we weren’t around to photograph what they do, but there is a clearly a very good reason to do so. This job isn’t getting any easier. 

You can view my full set of images of the protest here

Recently I went back to the area to see what had changed, quite a lot it would seem.

No longer blighted by huge piles of rubbish and burnt out cars, instead there is a new eyesore. A 3m high, 11 mile long bright blue construction fence, encircling the entire site. 

A large blue construction fence now surrounds the site, cutting off parts of the area.

View Larger Full Set

But this huge feat of modern engineering is soon to be gone as well. Replaced by 5m high galvanised steel mesh fence topped with a 1.2m electrified section. Not too dissimilar to the one built around Kingsnorth Powerstation in Kent before this years Climate Camp

So far there has been little photography from inside the Olympic site, a deliberate policy made by the PR people at the Olympic Deliver Authority (ODA) not to allow any independent journalists onto the site, absolutely terrified of any negative coverage it might create.

The Evening Standard has a reporter assigned full time to covering the build up to the 2012 games. Two years in the job and he has not once been allowed on the site, other than on carefully planned photo-calls. 

This is a hugely important subject to be documenting, a project that will transform the area forever and access to this story is being blocked by a few paranoid PR bods in the ODA.

It is reminiscent of when The Dome O² Centre was being built, just down the road in Greenwich. Mark Power petitioned the developers for months trying to get access to the site, being turned down again and again, pleading with them to let him in. Eventually he gained access and over 3 years created a beautiful set of images using a 5×4 large format film camera, that were also made into a book.

We can only hope that the ODA comes to it’s senses and allows journalists and photographers onto the site, to document what truly will be great games. 

You can view the full set of images here

I’ve returned to blogging after a 2 year break. I hope to bring more of the same reporting from shoots plus some comment and views on the photography world.

This is also to co-inside with the relaunching of my site with brand new and much easier to maintain backend software. Before I was manually editing a xml file every time I wanted to add images, it was also quite slow to go through images so was more of a showcase of my work.

But now I’ve redesigned and rebuilt the whole site from the ground up things are looking a lot better. For the curious the gallery software I’m using is ZenPhoto and the blog is of course running on WordPress