Page 276 - Law and the Media

Official Secrets
The secretary of the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee can also be
contacted voluntarily by a member of the media who wishes to check that his stories will not
damage national security. Although this can be a sensible arrangement, it suffers from two
potential drawbacks. The journalist or broadcaster may feel that the process constitutes a
form of vetting by the government. Furthermore, once the secretary of the Defence, Press and
Broadcasting Advisory Committee has had sight of the story, the risk of a government
injunction to stop the publication increases. However the Defence, Press and Broadcasting
Advisory Committee’s web site states:

All discussions between the media and the Secretary are carried out in confidence
and government departments do not subsequently initiate police or legal action
unless they have information from some other source . . .

. . . The Secretary therefore makes every effort to point out to the media any
material which he thinks might be in breach of an injunction or which might be an
offence under some Act, but he is not himself a legal expert and therefore
sometimes advises consulting the Treasury Solicitor for expert legal advice in
order to head off possible police or legal action.

In some instances the Secretary will himself contact journalists, broadcasters, authors or
publishers to offer advice, or the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee will
issue a specific notice if it is thought that published material may threaten or damage national
security. None have been issued in recent years.

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