Protect media staff

More must be done to protect journalists from violence, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) says.

NUJ executive member Anita Halpin successfully brought an emergency motion before the TUC Congress in September when she explained how members of far-right organisations such as the English Defence League (EDL) have been abusing and assaulting journalists. Halpin reported on incidents at an EDL event in London in September where one journalist was sexually assaulted and another set on fire.

“We don’t want to have to add a British journalist’s death to the already too long list of colleagues abroad,” she said.

She is trying to bring pressure to bear on the police to prosecute the attackers — especially where NUJ activists have been targeted by the far-right website Redwatch, which publishes personal details of journalists.