Abstract
Interviews on BBC TV's Panorama led to the Corporation finding itself in a position described by its director of editorial policy as "between a rock and a hard place, caught in the middle of what it regards as a fundamental journalistic principle [protection of sources] and the requirements of the Terrorism Act." Whittle observes: "Clearly we do not support terrorism, but there is a fundamental principle at stake. We have to be free to gather news and views to serve the society of which we, too, are a part...we cannot afford to be thought of as an extension of the police service or the intelligence agencies. We need people to talk to us. The public need to have access to that information. The public interest is better served by our being able to report what is happening and get inside the minds of people. That becomes impossible if every step is dogged with the threat of police raids and seizures of journalistic material."
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