Journalism platform De Correspondent is filing a lawsuit against the Public Prosecution Service for eavesdropping on three of its journalists. That made The Correspondent announced on Wednesday evening. The platform hopes to gain more clarity about the protection of journalists from investigative authorities. It also wants all information about the conversation to be destroyed.
On October 20, 2023 reported De Correspondent that a background conversation with three sources had been tapped by the Public Prosecution Service or one of their investigative services, with microphones that had been placed in advance in a meeting room in a catering establishment. Three journalists from De Correspondent interviewed Sywert van Lienden and his two business partners. According to De Correspondent, the Public Prosecution Service knew that a journalist would be present at the conversation. At the time, the platform was conducting research into the face mask crisis. The government has sued Van Lienden's face mask company and its business partners.
The Correspondent calls this “a very serious violation of the journalist's source protection.” “It is essential for (investigative) journalism work that journalists can guarantee the confidentiality of conversations with sources,” editor-in-chief Rob Wijnberg writes on the website. “Even if these sources are identified as suspects by the Public Prosecution Service. Source protection and source secrecy are therefore fundamental (European) rights and basic conditions for press freedom in a democratic society.”
In the law states that the Public Prosecution Service is in principle not allowed to listen in on journalists' conversations if this endangers source protection. This is only allowed if it concerns “serious facts” punishable by a prison sentence of at least 12 years. There must then be no other way to obtain the information.
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