Journalists who receive “an innocuous press release” could be arrested and prosecuted under new national security legislation going through Parliament, a peer has warned.
In a debate on the National Security Bill in the House of Lords on Wednesday, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, a Green Party peer, said, “A lot of journalists and organisations have contacted me expressing serious concern about this national security bill because things are not clear.”
She said: “As it stands, there is a huge risk to whistleblowing and public interest journalism, and these legitimate activities, in fact, one could call them absolutely crucial activities for our democracy, could now put journalists at risk of serious criminal consequences.”…