Leader – Flap over film crews is bad for democracy
New technology has allowed increasing numbers of people the capability to shoot videos quickly, easily, and sometimes surreptitiously, using smartphones.
Ironically, this has seemingly not stopped Hackney Council from placing obstacles in the path of those wishing to film in public places.
If anything, the situation for professional photographers and film crews seems to be getting worse.
Ceri Dingle, the director of Homerton-based charity WORLDwrite has complained about unnecessary red tape and ‘harassment’ by Town Hall ‘jobsworths’.
WORLDwrite trains youngsters to use broadcast-quality equipment for journalistic projects.
According to Ms Dingle, the Town Hall has told the WORLDwrite it must apply for a permit to film in public spaces. Council officials have apparently even tried to stop the charity’s young volunteers from filming in such areas on the ridiculous grounds that they “might be paedophiles”.
Ms Dingle has rightly attacked what she calls the council’s ‘regulatory impulse’, adding: “There is always this attitude on the part of the council that they are protecting people.
“They always refer to protecting people from obstruction or protecting vulnerable people. No one has demanded these protections, which are a real obstacle, I would argue, to local democracy.”
The charity has launched a ‘Freedom to Film’ campaign to highlight this apparent hysteria around filming in public places.
Hackney Council has form when it comes to being twitchy about recording equipment.
In 2011 the council famously refused Channel 4 permission to film its drama Top Boy on estates in the borough.
The council does not allow residents the automatic right to film, tweet, or record public meetings.
Being camera shy is one thing, but when it comes to public places and public meetings, the clue is in the name. The council’s attitude to filming is borne out of a misguided culture of privacy that can all too quickly become a culture of secrecy, harming transparency and democratic rights.