The Hertfordshire Police Crime Commission (PCC) said journalists “should consider” whether it was right to give “propaganda oxygen” to eco-activist Just Stop Oil.
David Lloyd said Nick Ferrari of LBC on Thursday Police ‘misunderstood’ after LBC reporter Charlotte Lynch was detained while reporting on Just Stop Oil, which is currently causing widespread chaos on Britain’s busiest motorway, the M25. “there is a possibility.
Lynch said he was handcuffed and taken into custody on suspicion of plotting a public nuisance after showing his media credentials as a civil servant.
The climate change group Just Stop Oil, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, has staged devastating protests to highlight that it is calling on the UK government to begin the process of phasing out domestic fossil fuel production. I’m here.
But Mr Lloyd said journalists should “consider” whether it’s right to report on Just Stop Oil in such a promotional way.
“We succeeded in getting their message across.”
“Something else, you held me accountable. The publicity oxygen that Stop Oil is seeking is mitigated,” Lloyd told Ferrari.
PCC added: I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have a free press and that we shouldn’t press. ”
“But we have to think about where they sit on the front page of the newspaper, where they sit in the coverage that the LBC does, because your editorial policy is so important to us that we want to be part of the problem. Because I think it needs to reflect what’s going on, and StopOil has been very successful in getting the message across,” he said.
Ferrari asked if they should be covered.
Lloyd said traffic information should cover the M25 being closed, and said he thought “it’s more subtle than that.”
He then drew a comparison to how he imagined the press would report on someone trying to take his life on the ring road.
“But if, for example, someone has a mental health problem and they’re using the same bridge or gantry because they want to hurt themselves, someone stands up as a major media story. If you try to commit suicide there, the highway will be closed and we will find a way to tell people that there was an incident,” he added.
“I think we as a society need to ask ourselves if we’re doing a good job of Just Stop Oil by giving it some propaganda oxygen,” said Lloyd.
“I told you that you are much more familiar with police business than I am, but I may be better in the news industry.” When it comes to closing vast tracks, this is news, that’s what we call news in business,” said Ferrari.
PA Media contributed to this report.
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Owen Evans is a UK-based journalist with a particular interest in civil liberties and free speech, covering stories from a wide variety of countries.