Sunday, February 06, 2011

Ombudsman paddles NT Police for prying (into journo's secret source business)

In this post I looked at the 'whys and wherefores' of the NT Police covert search of a journalist's phone records after he reported on a drug raid on a high profile politician in the Territory.


I'd like to provide readers with a copy of the NT Big O's report, however the website is - down ...


So instead, here's an interview about the search debacle with former WA police head spook, John McRoberts, who is now the Commissioner for NT Police.


The Northern Territory Ombudsman ruled against the police last week, saying that though their search might have been legal, it was unnecessary and that in future such searches need to be authorized by officers with a rank of superintendent or higher. 


Club Troppo's Ken Parish gets 3 D-M golden elephant stamps for being a pace-setter and seeing through the spin.


This is an interesting angle on source protection and current government and media industry practices, although his glasses could be perceived as being a touch rosy.

##UPDATE## The O's website is back up but isn't hosting the report.