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Injunction against TV report on G20 death fails

By staff writers
21 Apr 2009

A legal attempt to prevent Channel 4 News from broadcasting a report about the death of passer-by Ian Tomlinson at the recent G20 protest in London has failed.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission - which is questioning a police officer in connection with the death of Mr Tomlinson - sought an injunction preventing fresh pictures of events preceeding Mr Tomlinson's death from being broadcast.

A third inquest into the causes of Mr Tomlinson's death will now take place, after the findings of the first, that he died of a heart attack, were questioned by a second investigation that implicated internal bleeding.

Fifteen minutes before he died, the newspaper seller had been pushed to the ground by a police officer in an incident recorded on film and first broadcast on the Guardian online website

Tonight, (21 April) a judge refused to grant an injunction against the television channel and C4 News and More 4 News intend to broadcast the item on Wednesday 22 April, in a programme commencing at 7pm.

The report from C4 Home Affairs Correspondent Simon Israel includes a frame-by-frame analysis of events leading up to the moment when Mr Tomlinson was struck at by a police officer and fell to the ground.

In its attempt to secure a court order preventing the broadcast of this report, the IPCC argued that the material could be prejudicial to its investigation. Channel 4 contested this.

ITN, which produces Channel 4 News, said : "This is a responsible piece of journalism that brings important new information into the public domain."

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Keywords: channel 4 [9] | g20 [9] | police [9] | television [9]
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http://ekklesia.co.uk/node/9299