The letter can be found here – Tom Watson’ Blog
Personally, I would have been happier if the text of the relevant D-Notice had been published. Also, the letter states that ‘National Media’ are given this advice, The Alternative media is not, so I don’t know how Mark Francois MP expects us to attain the “normal professional standards of reporting” when we are denied the information that the National Media receives.
theneedleblog 
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‘The sole purpose of a DA notice system is to avoid the inadvertent public disclosure of core national security’
Oh really? I came across this before. Its from a page on Facebook. I have copied and pasted below..
‘D notices are not only issued for national security. Being a member of a metropolitan fire brigade on strike in 2002 we were subject to hundreds of D notices to prevent the public knowing the truth about incidents we broke our own strike to attend, the lives we saved, and how poorly the army coped. Not national security, but manipulation of the press to discredit firefighters. FACT.’
Emssy, I believe what you’re saying but the point is, why have a voluntary censorship system? That makes no sense whatsoever. Who wants a government that can hide things from its citizens? Nobody! And if the press really do claim to be transparent on issues, they’d love a meaty tell-all story about your fire brigade strike. My only conclusion is that yes, there is a D-notice censorship system but it cannot be voluntary as this prick Mark Francois claims.
Exactly, Stevo. Francois is lying his arse off, comfortable in the belief press with back him
I find your thinking of how the army covered op fresco disgusting. I was a driver pump operator during this period and we got nothing but good reports given we only had a few weeks training limited kit we got by after doing your job it was of to Bosnia for 6 month doing real work
If a DA notice is voluntary then what is the point in having it if it pertains to national security? Who are they trying to kid? It’s like when MI5/6 say they have never killed anyone. As Piers Morgan said in a recent interview “well what are they [Mi5/6] there for then?” The British Establishment continue pissing on the people while they tell us it’s raining. No wonder it rains a lot in Britain.
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They’re all in together- there’s no justice- just us.
Asking an Right Honhorable MP wh works for the Defence department about the facts of whether a DA notice was issued to cover a peodophilia within Government is a bit like asking Jimmy Saville if he was a peodophile. What answer do we expect to get? I’d have hoped Tom Watson was distanced enough from the old institution to realised there would be a huge bias there. After all this is the MP who has also called the card of the media being in bed with politicians. It does not put an end to the discussion at all. It merely informs further suspicion of a cover up.
A DA notice appears to be a kind of institutional gentlemens agreement, not unlike the sort made at Whites or Brooks.
“It provides a set of guidelines, agreed by representatives of the government departments directly concerned with national security and of all elements from the British Media. It informs editors, broadcasters, authors, publishers and others about what types of information need to be protected, and provides the basis for prior negotiation when there is disagreement about what should be disclosed to the general public”
http://www.dnotice.org.uk/faqs.htm
So all we need is a committed ‘whistleblower’ from the relevant department to release the details of the names on Operation Ore’s lists, to the right person from the ‘alternative media’, and we are away !!!
Simples
Come on then what are you waiting for……….do your bit for children everywhere !
The DA notice is unnecessary. Until recently few of us would have believed just how intimately entangled the Press and Westminster are.
Prime Ministers have been granted more audiences with Rupert and ‘becca than they have with Her Majesty. ( I am certain that I have the Granter and the Grantee the right way around).
Whitehall officials, Ministers and the Whips often have contact with senior journalists and editors for briefings on an unattributable basis (Chatham House Rules).
Mutual back scratching and positioning ensures that the Hoi polloi are kept in the dark.
Given the record and statements of BBC and other media types, they want to protect themselves from further allegation, so, in theory, a nice little unofficial D notice may be in place to look after each other, given the gravity of the offences elements of media and Parliament have been engaged in
I have to agree with you on this no matter how far the journalists are prepared to go it’s the editors and ultimately proprietors that decide which stories see the light of day.