UK’s top counterterrorism officers tell media to “rein in” coverage of the Islamic State and jihad terror

Britain is in crisis and headed for disaster. The European Union’s counter-terrorism coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, has already “singled out the UK as having more radicalised Muslims than any other country in Europe.” Britain has also “lost” 56,000 Muslim migrants due for deportation, including over 700 ex-cons. M15 revealed that up to 23,000 jihadis are living in Britain, not 3,000, as previously thought.

“Rein in Isis and terrorism coverage, police chiefs tell media”, by Graham Ruddick, Guardian, November 13, 2017:

Britain’s top counterterrorism officers have urged the media to rein back on coverage about Islamic State and terrorist attacks because of concerns that it helps to spread propaganda.

Mark Rowley, the assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan police, said a “fine balance” was needed in coverage of terrorism because Isis tries to use events as propaganda to “radicalise and influence”.

Speaking at the Society of Editors conference in Cambridge, Rowley said: “I do think there are some ways that you can rein back what you do. There is a fine balance. If [Isis] are looking to influence, you have to ask, are you helping them to influence.”

Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner and Britain’s most senior police officer, also called for calm when covering terrorist attacks.

“You must inform but not glorify and provide the platform this evil craves,” she said. “You must investigate but not in a dangerous way which disrupts the extensive efforts of the police and security services. You must comment but not in a way that creates excessive fear and multiplies the terror.”

Dick made her comments in a wide-ranging speech about the police’s relationship with the media.

The commissioner started in the role in April and spent her first day in the job at the funeral of PC Keith Palmer, who was murdered in the Westminster terror attack.

Dick said she wanted to “reset” the relationship between the Met and the media and “stop the fighting”. She pledged to be “transparent” in her work with the press and that relationships with a journalist “should not be categorised in the same way as a relationship with a criminal”.

However, she refused to apologise for Operation Elveden, the investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police officers and other public officials. This operation saw more than 30 journalists arrested or charged but then not convicted….