View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. News
July 6, 2007

Sunday Life rejects police copyright claim on FOI disclosure

By Press Gazette

Belfast’s Sunday Life newspaper has rejected claims by the Police Service of Northern Ireland that a Freedom of Information Act disclosure could not be published because it was subject to copyright.

The paper revealed that PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde had claimed almost £84,000 in expenses between 2004 and 2006. The figure had been released to Jimmy Spratt, a DUP member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, under FOI.

When the PSNI’s head of corporate affairs told Spratt that the information was protected by the 1988 Copyright Designs and Patents Act, Spratt was incensed and passed the document to the paper.

“The information was disclosed, but they said you can’t pass it on to anybody else – it’s for your eyes only – which doesn’t really seem to chime with FoI,” said Sunday Life deputy editor Martin Hill.

The paper published the expenses after Walter Greenwood, the co-editor of McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists and a legal adviser for Sunday Life, said the PSNI’s claims were without foundation.

“It was totally absurd for the PSNI to claim copyright on the chief constable’s expenses,” Greenwood said.

“There’s no copyright on information.”

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Many public bodies routinely note that FoI disclosures are subject to Crown copyright.

But Greenwood said there are many grounds on which a paper can publish the contents of such disclosures, including if it constitutes fair dealing for news reporting or if it was in the public interest.

“The [copyright] law is there to protect creative works, not facts per se, which is of course what a Freedom of Information disclosure is,” said Hill.

Greenwood and co-editor Tom Welsh are stepping down as editors of McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists this week.

The pair have been co-editors of the standard media law textbook for journalists for 30 years.

The new editors will be David Banks, who has been a joint editor for the past two editions of McNae’s, and Mark Hanna, a lecturer at the University of Sheffield’s department of journalism.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network