In an email to its members, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) advertised a training session with the Metropolitan police.

The email read:

Dear colleague, There’s still time to register your interest in attending the London Metropolitan Police Training Centre with the NUJ on [date and location]. The visit will cover Public Order and Public Safety and include training on public disturbances and civil unrest.

This is part of the NUJ’s ongoing engagement with the Metropolitan Police, other police forces, and the National Police Chiefs’ Council. The union seeks to develop a mutual professional understanding between journalists and the police, with officers upholding the right of bona fide newsgatherers to report as part of a free press, and journalists acting in a way that does not impede officers in the course of their duty.

Now, on first look, this might seem innocent.

But when you look at the bigger picture of increasing police violence towards protesters and journalists, it’s nothing short of messed up.

A problematic institution

The Canary has previously reported on the Met’s hidden culture of misogyny and racism.

Louise Casey conducted a report after a serving Met police officer, Wayne Couzens was charged with the kidnap, rape, and murder of Sarah Everard in 2021. It found that the Met police were institutionally racist, sexist, and homophobic. Casey found a pervasive culture of “deep-seated homophobia” and predatory behaviour. Female officers and staff had to “routinely face sexism and misogyny”. She also warned that the force could still be employing rapists and murderers. Additionally, Casey found that the majority of the white and male force had not treated violence against women and girls seriously enough.

Then, in 2023, the courts jailed another Met officer. David Carrick went down for life for dozens of rapes and sexual assaults stretching back two decades.

Since then, another Met police officer was let off with a suspended sentence after using cameras to spy on a 14-year-old.

As the Canary’s Joe Glenton previously reported:

The Met’s problems extend beyond a systemic hatred of women. On 2 October a BBC Panorama documentary showed how racism and far-right ideas thrived in the force.

The Met police have been found, time and time again, by organisation after organisation – and even by themselves – to be violently and institutionally racist.

This all raises the question, why are the NUJ collaborating with such a shit-show of an organisation?

Spinning the agenda

Of course, the NUJ want to “develop a mutual professional understanding” between its journalists and these violent pigs.

The next part from the NUJ is comedy gold. Who’s writing this skit?

with officers upholding the right of bona fide newsgatherers to report as part of a free press,

That would be the same Met that regularly violates the rights of journalists to do just that. The Canary could draw on countless occasions, but our own journalist Nicola Jeffery’s recent encounter with the Met makes for a clear example:

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Clearly, when push comes to shove, the Met violently manhandling journalists is a bit easier than upholding their ‘bona fide reporting rights.’

Furthermore, the Met have historically not respected or upheld the rights of journalists reporting on their abusive behaviour while policing protests.

This little piggy went to a protest

The Met has also repeatedly spun narratives to fit its abusive policing agenda.

The Canary has repeatedly challenged its version of events in policing protests, because it being fast and loose with the truth is a time-old police pastime.

Take, for instance, policing at recent Defend Our Juries protests. The Met has a penchant for smearing protesters with allegations of abusive and violent behaviour. However, we’ve called it as we’ve witnessed it: the Met has acted abusively and violently towards protesters.

And as usual, we have the receipts. A powerful institution spinning the facts? You don’t say!

And then the real kicker? The NUJ wants its journalists to learn from the Met how to act:

in a way that does not impede officers in the course of their duty.

That could mean many things, of course. Like eating up the Met’s PR lines and pumping them out to the public like indisputable facts. Or perhaps not investigating its crimes, systemic racism, misogyny, and ableism. Wouldn’t want to impede those good cops – kindly protectors of the peace’s work now, would we?

A spokesperson for the National Union of Journalists told the Canary:

The NUJ has never been slow in challenging inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour by any police force, including the Met.

Engagement in training in no way compromises the ability of the NUJ to promote the safety of journalists. Refusing to engage with those charged with protecting journalists would be both foolish and irresponsible.

This statement would suggest that working with the Met police, that hallowed violently racist and sexist institution, is the only option. If, unlike the NUJ, you weren’t born yesterday, you’ll know that organisations like Green and Black Cross provide a range of training on knowing your rights at protests, how to train as a legal observer, and host extensive resources on current protest laws. Advocacy organisations like the Network for Police Monitoring, otherwise known as Netpol, also have extensive resources available on how to safely be around police officers.

Journalistic integrity

And Canary journalists will be damned if we don’t ‘impede’ the work of a violent Met pig assaulting protesters. Our job isn’t to be passive witnesses to violence, journalistic integrity and basic human decency for that matter, demands we step in and stop state violence wherever we see it.

Journalism is about holding the powerful to account, including the Met police – a famously powerful institution. It’s clear the Met was never there to protect communities. They are there to protect the status quo.

The NUJ, collaborating with the Met, blurs the lines – lines which are necessary for journalistic integrity in holding the powerful to account. It is nothing short of an absolute shitshow.

Featured image via Daily Record/YouTube

By HG

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