“Appalling harassment and abuse” against journalists covering far-right riots and counter-protests over the past week has been condemned.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show after this story was first published, Liverpool Echo editor Maria Breslin said a member of her team was “attacked” in Southport on the first night of violence (on Tuesday 30 July) after the vigil for the three girls who were stabbed at a dance class.
She said they “had quite expensive equipment stolen, glasses broken, left with cuts and bruises. I know of people from other teams who were spat at, someone had to take shelter in a local home”.
Breslin suggested that “whoever these disaffected people are, they certainly see us as part of the problem possibly, or certainly reporting on what’s going on. So it’s really challenging, and it makes me really angry because we should be safe in doing our job. Even back in the office we’ve had quite a few unpleasant phone calls this week.”
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Asked the nature of the phone calls, she said: “There have been a lot of phone calls that have been quite extreme in their nature, in terms of racist language et cetera. It’s really difficult, but I’m really proud of the professionalism shown by our team in being determined to report on what’s happening in, essentially, our community.”
Latest: BBC journalist received ‘defamatory and highly personal attacks’ over ‘out of context’ riot clip
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On Monday journalists for LBC and Sky News were forced to leave the areas they were reporting from in Birmingham where members of the Muslim community had gathered in response to rumours of a planned far-right protest in the area.
LBC reporter Fraser Knight posted on X: “As a reporter, I’ve just been chased out of an area of east Birmingham by groups of Asian men who had come out to ‘protect their community’ against a planned far-right demonstration.
“The security guard with me decided immediately it wasn’t safe for us – it was clear we weren’t welcome – but there wasn’t a safe place for us to go for miles. Cars followed us, we had abuse shouted at us and at one point a group of around six men ran after us down a road with what looked like a weapon.
“We were forced to run… We were warned that we’d regret it if we hung around. We’re safe now.”
Meanwhile Sky News communities correspondent Becky Johnson was surrounded by masked men who told the team to leave while she was attempting to report live.
“Becky will have security there,” anchor Mark Austin told viewers. Johnson later thanked her security officer as well as the cameraman and producer.
As the team began to drive away a balaclava-clad man then attempted to slash a tyre on their broadcast van using a knife. No damage was done and they were able to leave.
Appearing on Times Radio on Wednesday, Conservative MP Robert Jenrick accused Home Office minister Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, of appearing to “explain away or justify intimidation against a female journalist [by] sectarian gangs on the streets of her own city in Birmingham”.
Phillips had written on X in response to a post by Reform UK MP Richard Tice: “These people came to this location because it has been spread that racists were coming to attack them. This misinformation was spread entirely to create this content.”
On Sunday Sky News North of England correspondent Charlotte Leeming was also forced to stop live coverage after being intimidated while on-air by masked men with weapons in Middlesbrough.
Her colleague in the studio said: “I’m sure your producer is watching your back, if you need to go Charlotte, please feel free. We know it’s a volatile situation there.”
Sky’s North of England producer Hope Yeomans also reported seeing other journalists targeted. She wrote: “We have seen other journalists targeted by rioters – telling us that we are all working for the government and are preventing the truth. We have had colleagues who have had their camera equipment smashed and stolen.”
And a day earlier, amid a brawl between far-right and counter-protesters in Bristol, Sky News correspondent Tom Cheshire and his cameraman Chris “both took beer bottles to our helmets”. Leeming had also been wearing a helmet for protection.
On Monday Sky News executive chairman David Rhodes told staff: “In the past week, Sky News colleagues on four continents described to me some form of difficulty they’ve faced delivering our eyewitness journalism.
“Events in these opening days of August will have been tough to process, and I’d encourage colleagues to seek the support they might need from their managers and from our company in continuing to respond.
“Let’s remember that in febrile times like these, people depend on Sky News more than ever– it’s fundamentally our promise of ‘the full story, first.’ We all have a job to do.”
Sky advised staff across the business to work from home or leave its West London headquarters early today (Wednesday) ahead of a planned protest at an immigration centre in nearby Brentford.
“While we don’t expect the protest to directly affect the Sky Osterley campus, there will be additional security on-site tomorrow as a precaution,” a message from Sky Group security to staff said. It also included travel advice and locations to avoid for anyone who has to travel home in the evening, adding: “Please prioritise your personal safety at all times.”
Also in Middlesbrough on Sunday a national press photographer, whose name was not reported, told The Guardian he had been chased by a far-right mob.
“A guy with a balaclava said: ‘Oi camera, give it here,’” he said. “There are situations where it’s fight or flight, and neither of those were an option because there were about 150 of them in a confined area of a terraced street.”
He managed to get away with people shouting “Get him!” and “Stop him!” behind him, it was reported.
Another photographer told The Guardian he was in Bolton on Sunday and was punched on the arm while taking a photo at a counter-protest.
He said: “Quickly, it looks [as if] he goes for another punch, but misses and says: ‘Stop taking fucking photos. We don’t need any photos, get the fuck away’,” adding that a brick was thrown at him and missed. He planned to miss the next riot, fearing he would be recognised, but said he couldn’t stay away too long as “I have to go out to pay the bills”.
Freelance journalist Amanda Ferguson was called a “traitor” while covering riots in Belfast on Saturday and had her phone “smacked” out of her hand. The incident was reported to police.
Séamus Dooley, Irish Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: “This sort of behaviour cannot be tolerated. Filming journalists doing their work is intended to intimidate. Amanda is a diligent and committed journalist and it is shocking to see her subjected to this type of attack.”
Also in Belfast, on Tuesday, Belfast Telegraph visuals editor Kevin Scott had his car “attacked by a crowd of masked males who damaged the car and tried to gain entry” while attending a series of incidents.
In Rotherham on Sunday a rock was thrown towards journalists, narrowly missing a cameraman.
On the first night of clashes in Southport last Tuesday (30 July), an ITV News crew were forced to move away from one area “as the crowd are not happy to be filmed, to put it lightly”, UK editor Paul Brand said.
A video taken by a member of the public, and posted by Brand, shows men walking behind him and his crew with one shouting “all your f**king fault, media”. Brand wrote that “media are not welcome… It isn’t possible to engage with the people involved.”
On the same night a journalist for The Publica, which describes itself as a “space for free-thinkers and mischief-makers”, was punched, knocking out part of a tooth. He also had his phone charger stolen.
Jack Hadfield told Fox News: “I am recovering well after the attack, if still being a bit shaken. It certainly has not deterred me from continuing to cover on the ground events, and I’m taking the broken tooth to be a battle scar.”
He said he was attacked by a man who had identified him as a journalist at about 10.40pm.
“I was set upon by one man, who proceeded to hit me repeatedly in the head, face and body. I started running further down the road… where a far larger crowd of approximately a couple of hundred people or so were still gathered.
“At that point, I was surrounded by 10 to 15 men, who I attempted to explain to that I wasn’t part of the mainstream media. They demanded that I delete images and videos off of my phone, which I did,” although he was able to recover them from his “recently deleted” folder. He said he was then struck again and pushed to the ground before running away to the police line.
Safety of journalists and news crews ‘must be paramount’ amid riots
Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said on Monday that journalists are “increasingly being targeted by these mobs” and that “it is vital that employers are conducting full risk assessments, providing appropriate safety equipment and ideally deploying staff in pairs or teams”.
On Wednesday she added: “These are some of the worst and most widespread public order disturbances in modern times that appear designed to terrify some of the UK’s most vulnerable communities. Journalists covering these events have also been subjected to wholly unacceptable violence and intimidation.
“Police and employers must do all in their power to ensure that journalists can work safely. Access to appropriate equipment and the ability to work in pairs, or with other backup is paramount, for freelancers as well as staff.”
Bectu, the union that represents many camera crews and others who work behind the scenes, said the safety of news crews “must be paramount”.
Head of Bectu Philippa Childs said on Wednesday: “We know this is a particularly difficult and unsettling time for Bectu members, many of whom are directly impacted as they work to bring the nation coverage of these events or are facing venue or event closures as a result of the unrest.
“They have our full support and we are speaking with broadcasters to ensure appropriate procedures are in place to protect staff, as well as freelance crew.”
Childs added: “No one should face violence, threats, intimidation or racism simply while carrying out their job. We condemn the appalling harassment and abuse of some media professionals that has occurred during the recent unrest.
“A free press and being able to report without intimidation or fear is an essential part of our democracy. The safety of news crews and other media workers must be absolutely paramount.”
Tim Dawson, IFJ deputy general secretary said: “At a time when untrue information is rife, the work of journalists is all the more crucial, and is dependent on the ability of reporters and photographers to do their work.
“Those who attack journalists are attacking democracy, and undermining everyone’s right to know. They must be protected and safeguarded – just as should be the vulnerable communities who are targeted.”
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