REFORMS TO OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT

JOURNALISTS could be hit with lengthy prison sentences if their stories and reports upset the Government under “sweeping reforms” to the Official Secrets Act.

Proposals for legislation to “counter state threats” risk criminalising public interest journalism.

There are concerns that reporters could be branded spies if, for example, they handle leaked documents.

The proposals could also expose whistleblowers to “harsh new penalties”.

A Home Office Consultation, which closed this week, is seeking to reform the 1989 Act to account for changes in the modern age. It could increase the maximum two-year sentence for “unauthorised disclosure”.

The Law Commission recommended a public interest defence, which would protect journalists, should be included.

But the Home Office rejected this, saying it would “undermine our efforts to prevent damaging unauthorised disclosures, which would not be in the public interest”. The News Media Association (NMA), which speaks for UK media organisations, warned the plans could “open the floodgates” to the media and its sources being prosecuted “despite acting in the public interest”. A source at the NMA said: “As part of any thriving democracy, the public and a responsible press must be free to shed light on the state’s injustices.

“The proposed measures will deter whistleblowers from coming forward with vital information which the public have a right to know and place a chill on investigative journalism which holds power to account.” Newspaper and media bodies are strongly urging the Government to reconsider these measures and instead work with the industry to place appropriate protections for journalism at the heart of the Official Secrets Act so that freedom of speech is enhanced by the new regime rather than weakened further.

The NMA has called for a public interest defence to be introduced, and a Statutory Commission to be created to provide redress for whistleblowers. The National Union of Journalists said the proposals were “truly chilling”. A spokesperson for the NUJ said: “Government proposals to reform the Official Secrets Act are truly chilling and authoritarian. They could brand journalists spies, just for doing their job.

“They could remove the defence for whistleblowers and reporters of publishing information in the public interest and water down protections on the police being able to seize journalistic material”.