As reported by the Newspaper Society: Following revelations that police had used RIPA to secretly obtain the phone records of Sun political editor Tom Newton Dunn, Press Gazette launched the Save our Sources campaign which has gathered support from across the industry.
Backing the campaign, the NS said: “The protection of confidential sources is a vital component of public interest journalism. Journalists rely upon being able to guarantee whistle-blowers’ anonymity in order to expose wrongdoing.
“Anything that threatens this guarantee – such as use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act by public authorities to identify journalists’ confidential sources – constitutes a fundamental attack on press freedom and must be opposed.”
The campaign includes a petition addressed to Interception of Communications Commissioner Sir Anthony May asking him to take action to ensure the RIPA is not used by public authorities to secretly obtain journalists' phone records and identify confidential sources.
In 2010, Derby Council were accused of spying on the local newspaper after using RIPA to attempt to observe a meeting between members of its own staff and a journalist from the Derby Telegraph.
