Media organisations win right to film protests after police bid fails

TV crews will continue filming the protests that have caused chaos in Melbourne this week, after a police bid to restrict their access was rejected in court.

Media organisations have won the right to continue flying over Melbourne to gather public information after an unprecedented bid by Victoria Police to ground and restrict news aircraft from broadcasting city protests.

A Federal Court judge ruled in favour of three TV outlets, allowing them to fly over the CBD and broadcast footage live until a trial can be set down as early as next week.

Justice Helen Rofe QC said there was a “serious question to be tried” and the “balance of convenience” was in staying, or delaying, police orders until a substantive hearing could go ahead.

She said a judge could be made available to sit before a trial next week.

The media organisations told the court the force has “no power” to make such an “unlawful” order.

The decision of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to allow a police demand limiting the media’s ability to capture and broadcast footage of public interest was heard in an urgent Federal Court matter this morning.

Victoria Police has backflipped over the CBD ‘no-fly’ order. Picture: Jason Sammon

Victoria Police backed down on Wednesday night from a total ban on media helicopters from flying within a 3km radius of the CBD.

Instead, the force ordered the media to get approval before flying and required a one-hour delay on publishing footage, claiming that protesters had been using live streams to plan rallies in the city.

The restrictions were slammed as censorship of the media.

Will Houghton QC, for Nine Network, Seven Network and the ABC, said Victoria Police and CASA simply had “no power” to impose such conditions on the media.

“Victoria Police now want to regulate how the media report the news,” he said.

“That’s never before been attempted to be done by Victoria Police.”

Mr Houghton said even if CASA did have the power to make the restrictions, that couldn’t then be passed on to a state entity such as Victoria Police.

TV crews can continue filming the unprecedented protests. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The barrister said that the media was the eyes and ears of the public and “cannot be muzzled or censored in this task by having to go to Victoria Police” each time it wants to send up a helicopter.

“There is a very serious question to be tried on the power of CASA,” he said.

“It has nothing to do with the safety of aviation.

“It has nothing to do with public safety.”

Instead, Mr Houghton said live information on what was happening in Melbourne “assists the public in going about their daily business”.

“As demonstrations continue, the public is entitled to know first-hand and live what is happening in the city of Melbourne.”

He said “we’re in the dark” about why Victoria Police called for the fly ban and restrictions.

“There’s not one jot of material now before the court to suggest there is any issue involving public safety and flying a helicopter for the dissemination of news,” he said.

Mr Houghton called for a temporary stay — or delay — on the flying restrictions until a full hearing could take place.

Peter Hanks QC, for CASA, said it would be a “very big call” for a court to say it wasn’t open to the regulator to make its decision “in the interest of public safety”.

He said he wasn’t in a position to speak about the public safety issues.

However, Mr Hanks said CASA had “statutory responsibility for civil aviation” and had “considerable experience in discharging that responsibility”.

BACKFLIP ON NO-FLY ZONE

The unprecedented move on Wednesday to install a “no-fly zone” over Melbourne’s CBD was slammed as media censorship, with all news helicopters grounded under the order before police backflipped on the controversial ban.

The force then granted media aircraft special permission to fly above the CBD to capture footage of protesters but under strict conditions.

A police spokeswoman said pilots would need Victoria Police airwing approval before taking off “to ensure there are no safety risks.”

“Media outlets will also be required to delay publishing any livestream footage from the air by 60 minutes or at the conclusion of the operation,” the spokeswoman said.

“This is because protesters were actively monitoring aerial livestreams, compromising the police operation and putting the safety of members at risk.”

These restrictions remain in place until at least 9am Sunday.

The airspace will be closed if the networks broadcast any vision live.

Police originally ordered the “no fly-zone” until Monday in an extraordinary response to the construction industry chaos.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority on Wednesday granted a request by Victoria Police to ground all aircraft in a three nautical mile radius of the CBD from Wednesday until Sunday.

Peter Gibson of CASA told the Herald Sun police made the order as they did not want other aircraft in the vicinity of the CBD amid the protest chaos.

“Victoria Police asked us for a temporary restriction of airspace for a three nautical mile radius of the CBD from today until Sunday,” he said.

“They don’t want other aircraft in the area. It is in the interest of public safety.”

After the initial announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon, networks voiced their anger at the decision which they said would “hinder” their ability to cover an important news event.

Nine’s director of news and current affairs Darren Wick was among those to slam the move, describing it as “an overreach”.

Protesters gather at the Shrine of Remembrance, surrounded by police. Picture: Getty Images

He said the media were not consulted about the decision before it was implemented.

“We have to be able to show the public what is happening, it’s not what we do, we are not a police state,” Mr Wick said on Melbourne’s 3AW radio station.

“It’s very unprecedented and it’s very uncomfortable, the decision that’s been made.

“To can the media helicopter coverage of this for the next several days is overreach and it’s actually a very dangerous precedent.”

Mr Wick referenced the Sydney’s Lindt cafe siege in 2014 where he said NSW police consulted media during the dangerous event unfolding.

“I look in Sydney, the Lindt cafe siege several years ago, the police actually spoke with the media and asked us to stop broadcasting live pictures for half an hour while they were able to move police into strategic positions, which we complied with,” he said.

“This is not that, this is a bunch of boofheads wandering around protesting on the streets … to ban the media helicopters coverage of this for the next several days is overreach.

“We are moving into the realms of censorship and a police state.”

Premier Daniel Andrews’ office said they had no involvement in the decision to stop aerial footage of the protest scenes being aired live across the television networks.

Construction workers protests have become larger, and at times violent, demonstrations against lockdown restrictions in general. Picture: Getty Images

Sources said a shared media helicopter – an arrangement between Seven, Nine, Sky News and the ABC – was grounded at about 2pm on Wednesday.

Seven’s director of news Craig McPherson also criticised the decision and said it was “clipping the wings of the press”.

“I’ve never seen anything that falls into this category, on the basis of what … it falls down on so many levels, the main one being common sense,” he said.

“I don’t think it can be explained how news choppers showing aerials of the actual happenings down at street level could in any way give any degree of intel to the protesters and whatever plans the police they might be concocting.”

He said in his 40 years in the media industry he had not seen anything like this.

“We were just grounded without any real justification,” Mr McPherson said.

“It’s hindering the reporting of a major news event in the centre of the second biggest city in Australia that’s unfolding, people need to witness the birds-eye view of what’s occurring in their city.”

The Public Order Response team with Victoria Police patrol Elizabeth St. Picture: Getty Images

The broadcasters were notified of the initial decision mid-air, after their pool helicopter had just refuelled and was returning to the CBD to capture more vision of Wednesday’s protests.

Deputy Commissioner Ross Guenther defended police’s request for an aircraft ban over the CBD and said protesters were using aerial news footage to their advantage.

“I supported that because what was happening was that the live news footage from the helicopters was being used by protesters to identify where we were and what our tactics were at different locations,” he said.

“It was impairing the safety of our members.”

He said they reviewed their decision, acknowledging the importance of the media’s ability to cover events, and will now allow news helicopters to fly over the CBD.

But they have to delay the airing of any footage by one hour.

“It shows where we are forward of the march or the demonstration, it shows where we are behind,” he said.

“All of that information is very helpful to some of the spotters that are around the city trying to direct the protesters so that they amass a much larger group.”

Originally published as Media organisations win right to film protests after police bid fails