WORLDwrite demands freedom to film and slams ‘harassment’ by Hackney Council
WORLDwrite volunteers show off their medals at a sponsored run event held to raise money for its Freedom to Film campaign. Photograph: WORLDwrite
A charity has launched a campaign asserting its right to film in public places after claiming its volunteers were ‘harassed’ by Hackney Council officials.
WORLDwrite’s Freedom to Film campaign aims to highlight what it says are growing obstacles to filming in the borough
The Homerton-based organisation trains youngsters to use broadcast-quality equipment for journalistic projects, and its work has in the past been backed by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and major news agency Bloomberg.
Its director Ceri Dingle said its volunteers had been prevented from filming in public places including Millfields Park, Mandeville Square and outside Hackney Town Hall.
Ms Dingle said: “We ring Hackney Council out of courtesy and we are told we must apply for a film permit, but the law states these public spaces are held in trust by the council for the people of the area, so there is no requirement for a permit.
“We have experienced these problems all over London, but Hackney Council seems to be particularly noteworthy for the number of bureaucrats and park wardens and jobsworths who prevent our volunteers from speaking to the public.”
Hackney Council said it would be ‘happy to work with’ the organisation.
‘Jobsworths’
Ms Dingle said WORLDwrite’s volunteers often interviewed members of the public and carried out ‘vox pops’ as part of their journalistic training but had been ‘harassed’ by council officials who tried to stop them from doing so because they “might be paedophiles”.
“In Mandeville Square we’ve been told by these jobsworths that we can’t film because there are vulnerable people there,” she said. “We were filming in Millfields Park with about 15 of our volunteer learners and we were told we couldn’t film because we might be paedophiles.
“You have to laugh really because this was a group of 15 students and a tutor. What did the warden think it was it, a paedophiles’ outing? Where do these people get their dirty minds from that they think this kind of thing about people?”
She criticised what she called 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.
“You don’t get the same treatment if you get your iPhone out, but we are trying to teach people to use broadcast-quality stuff.”
WORLDwrite raised £4000 to fund its Freedom to Film campaign at a sponsored run event last weekend.
‘Sensitive issue’
A Hackney Council spokesperson said: “Filming and photography can be intrusive and disruptive and is a particularly sensitive issue near young people, vulnerable adults or family events such as weddings.
“Permission is required for filming on council-owned land to ensure shoots are safe and suitable.
“Hackney is an increasingly popular destination with film crews of all sizes and the council’s priority is to ensure that residents and businesses can go about their day-to-day lives without disruption.
“Our film office advises on logistics and negotiates on behalf of residents and businesses who might be affected. It also informs relevant bodies about shoots so that crews are not stopped unnecessarily.
“We arrange well over 1,000 film days a year. It’s a simple process and we’d be happy to work with WORLDWrite if they get in touch.”
In 2011 Hackney 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 council meetings.
All the more reason not to live here, as if any were needed. After 13 years in Hackney I’m sick to the guts of the place. Goodbye!
It’s bad news that Hackney council just don’t get it. They don’t think of citizens as capable or able to speak to eachother and negotiate their own way with other people in public spaces be it to film, photograph or even leaflet or petition. There supposedly has to be an appointed official to protect us or tell us what is good for us, who we can and can’t record or even speak to. That demeans us, degrades us and increases our isolation from each other. Is it any wonder that Hackney has such a pronounced inter-generational divide. The council seems to have learnt nothing from the riots. Who has in fact asked for their protection from citizens with cameras? The borough of course meanwhile is awash with councill CCTV cameras watching us!
Hackney council are infamously bad for this kind interference with photographers and film-makers but the truth is citizen journalists are likely to get similar hassle where ever they are in London. The council representative who said “we’d be happy to work with WORLDWrite” doesn’t seem to get the point. WORLDwrite are not campaigning to work with the council, they are campaigning to be left alone by the council.
I find myself in agreement with the charity because something similar happened to me a while ago in Hackney. I’m a grandparent and was enjoying the occasional company of my two young grandchildren near to Hackney baths. When I tried to take a keepsake photograph of them I was approached by some official and questioned about it. Apparently it was all about child protection but they’re my grandchildren! Furthermore the implication of this is that I might have had untoward thoughts about children, and that is just grossly insulting, pure and simple.
Since when did council bureaucrats acquire the right to tell us what we can and can’t do in public places?
As someone who has been stopped from taking photos in public on more than one occasion, I’m really tired of always looking over my shoulder,wondering who’s going to turn up with some lame, bureaucratic excuse for not being able to do what was always, and *should be*, taken for granted in a free society.
We seem to be living in a ‘You Can’t Do That Society’ and I think it’s high time to tell them to SOD OFF.
Good on WORLDwrite. They are on the ball exposing the petty and patronising view of council wonks.
Only last month I was invited to Dalston to shoot a short interview with a local Halal butcher. Despite having been invited by the butcher to interview him, we were rudely stopped by a Hackney council jobsworth who claimed that we could not film an interview in the Ridley Road market. The butcher was as annoyed as I was. Not only did we waste over an hour unsuccessfully arguing with this pompous guardian of the public, it was plain ridiculous that we were treated like idiots who should know not to think we are able to decide what we want to film. Insane!
It’s such a strange paradox that we live in a world where everyone is always watching/recording everyone else, and yet certain councils believe it has a divine mandate to control ‘its’ citizens’ ability to do so. Not only is it objectionable on moral grounds – it’s plain bonkers to think it could be reasonably achieved. And incredibly patronising.
This sort of discouragement creates a culture of fear on the street as well, where people feel uncomfortable about their own behaviour and self-expression…not healthy in the slightest.
People naturally assume that police and security officers have a good knowledge of the law but my experience is that when it comes to filming in a public place they tend to make it up as they go along. Can we look at the way we educate these people? Or do they think they are working on commission?