Lawyers acting on the BBC’s behalf have initiated legal proceedings over the alleged police surveillance of one of its former journalists.
The case involves RTÉ’s Northern Editor, Vincent Kearney, who in 2011 was working on the BBC’s Spotlight, presenting a programme about the Police Ombudsman’s Office.
Mr Kearney believes the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) may have attempted to identify some of the programme’s sources of information.
The BBC said “serious issues of public interest are involved” and as such has written to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in London about the alleged surveillance of phone data linked to Mr Kearney’s work at the time.
The tribunal is an independent judicial body that considers allegations of unlawful intrusion by public bodies using covert investigative techniques.
A BBC spokesperson said in a statement: “We have instructed lawyers to write to the Investigatory Powers tribunal about the alleged PSNI surveillance of telephone data linked to the work of Vincent Kearney during his employment with the BBC.
“We think serious issues of public interest are involved, including in relation to the adverse effects that surveillance may have on journalistic investigations and freedoms.”
The Spotlight programme titled ‘The Whistleblower and the Watchdog’ sought to examine allegations about the Police Ombudsman’s independence, allegations that claimed that it had been compromised and that complaints about police activities were not sufficiently investigated.
The programme resulted in calls for the resignation of the then-ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, who announced his stepping down following the broadcast.
“Journalists must be free to carry out their work without fear that the police may secretly try to identify sources,” Mr Kearney said in a statement, adding that he was “determined to find out what happened”.
Mr Kearney’s case is understood to have come about as a result of ongoing proceedings related to Belfast journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney, who allege that they subjected to unlawful police surveillance as they carried out their work.