Police forces in England and Wales will be required to publish a phone number and answer calls from journalists under new police media guidelines partly inspired by the press and social media free-for-all and widespread misinformation after Lancashire Police failed to adequately brief the media over the disappearance of Nicola Bulley in 2023 and the Merseyside force’s tight-lipped initial response to the 2024 Southport killings.
The guidance forms part of a new Policing and Media Charter for England and Wales, developed over two years of talks between senior police and media representatives.
The charter was launched at the Society of Editors’ Future of News conference in London yesterday.
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Sir Andy Marsh, chief executive of the College of Policing, conceded that police were “very reluctant to come forward” and share details of the Bulley case, “and it had a huge impact on trust and confidence.”
“Trust arrives on a tortoise, and it leaves on a horse, and the trust had left at some pace,” he added.
Rebecca Camber, chair of the Crime Reporters Association, told attendees that relations had deteriorated to the point that some police press officers had essentially “ditched” phone contact, a situation the new charter seeks to rectify.
“Police press offices are [now] contactable by phone,” she said. “Shouldn’t that be happening already? Of course it should… we changed that.”
Under the new guidance, forces will publish press office telephone numbers online, and press officers will introduce themselves by name when speaking to journalists, expecting them to do the same.
Alan Woods, head of Media and Public Affairs at the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said: “Phones will continue to be answered… This is just the beginning point for that shift towards better engagement between media and police press offices through the telephone.”
The charter has also set out new guidelines for email contact, with police forces to publish press office email addresses online and journalists are expected to share their name, number and platform in their email queries.
Other updates include the police sharing press officer contact details with the media and providing news updates directly to journalists, rather than the media expected to receive these through social media.
The new framework also includes encouraging officers to engage with the media, confirming nationality and ethnicity on arrest in certain cases, releasing pictures of criminals on conviction, and every police force having a designated journalist safety liaison officer (JSLO).
The new guidance is limited to accredited members of the media who hold a valid press card.
