No charge over B.B.C. film of terrorists

Press, 11 July 1980, Page 6

No charge over B.B.C. film of terrorists

NZPA London The British Government has decided not to prosecute 8.8. C. television journalists for their contacts with Northern Irish terrorists. It has been told by the Director of Public Prosecutions that enough evidence exists for charges to be brought against several journalists for their contacts with illegal para-military groups. However, the AttorneyGeneral (Sir Michael Havers) has ruled out a prosecution because of the row over press freedom he feels would inevitably accompany such a move, the "Guardian” has reported.

Instead, he has written a “strong letter” to the 8.8. C. chairman (Sir Michael Swann), who will retire

from the post shortly, expressing Government anger that the 8.8. C. should deal with terrorists, Sir Michael, the "Guardian” said, had replied with a detailed defence of the 8.8.C.’s policy, that such contacts must be allowed from time to time if its journalists are to carry out their function of aiding public understanding of the Northern Ireland conflict. The row over the 8.8.C.'s contacts with terrorists stems from an incident last October when .a current-af-fairs film crew filmed a road block operated by armed Irish Republican Army men in a village in County Tyrone.

Suggestions that the 8.8. C. had stage-managed the road block for the “Panorama” programme led to

the 8.8. C. being accused in the House of Commons of treason, and the corporation was condemned by both the Prime Minister (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) and the Opposition leader, James Callaghan. It is now gene-rally accepted that the 8.8. C. did not have the block artifically staged but went to the area after a tip and found the armed men and the road-block already there. But the 8.8. C. was already under heavy criticism for screening an interview with a man claiming to be a member of the Irish National Liberation Army, the group that claimed responsibility for murdering Airey Neave, a leading Tory politician and close friend and adviser of Mrs Thatcher.