JOURNALISM

Police Pressure Guardian to Reveal Sources

Threaten paper with espionage law.

The Guardian did so much better than Scotland Yard in investigating phone-hacking allegations at News of the World that London's police are now demanding the paper turn over its sources, and they're threatening to prosecute under an espionage law if the paper fails to comply. Scotland Yard claims the Guardian may have violated the Official Secrets Act in breaking the phone-hacking story. A clause in the act, designed to apply to people who deliberately derail investigations by tipping off suspects, says that individuals who pass on “damaging” information leaked to them by government officials can be prosecuted. The only other case of the Official Secrets Act being used against a journalist collapsed in scandal 11 years ago.