Reform donor Arron Banks urged to set out extent of surveillance of journalists
Summary
Arron Banks, a businessman who donates to Reform UK, is being asked to explain how much he has used private investigators to watch journalists. Banks admitted to hiring investigators to follow a Sunday Times reporter, which has raised concerns about press freedom and the treatment of journalists looking into political funding.Key Facts
- Arron Banks, a donor to Reform UK, reportedly hired private investigators to watch Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund.
- Banks said his investigators suspected the Sunday Times used hacked information.
- The News Media Association called Banks’s actions an “attack on democracy” and raised worries about pressure on journalists.
- Reform UK says it does not know about Banks’s use of private investigators.
- Media leaders and politicians criticized Banks’s surveillance as harmful to free speech and an open democracy.
- Banks declined to confirm if investigators watched other journalists, including those at The Guardian.
- The Sunday Times strongly denied Banks’s claim about hacked information.
- Critics say using private investigators to intimidate journalists can stop them from asking important questions about public figures.
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