Journalists are being targeted by the likes of Tommy Robinson – but we will never be silenced

Editorial: At a time when journalists – and journalism itself – are under unprecedented attack, it is some comfort to see that the threat to media freedom is still understood, and acted upon, by the courts and by others

Tommy Robinson has been handed a five-year stalking ban (PA)

The five-year “stalking order” passed down by the courts against Tommy Robinson, the co-founder of the English Defence League, is an unusually long one. Then again, Robinson has an unusually long record of breaking the law and attempting to intimidate The Independent’s home affairs and security correspondent, Lizzie Dearden.

His harassment, persistent attempts to confront Ms Dearden personally – and his threats to spread lies and humiliate her partner online – were so serious that they have left a judge no option but to act.

It is, as the magistrate stated, a “proportionate” measure, and one that still allows Robinson complete freedom to exercise his right to speech and respond to any media reports or criticism of him. He may not have understood before that the expression “right to reply” does not equate to turning up on a reporter’s doorstep at 10pm and yelling through the intercom. Perhaps he does now.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has been involved in various hard right, so-called patriotic movements for some years. He fancies himself as a working-class hero but his list of criminal convictions is rather longer than the list of his political achievements.

He is a trouble-maker, who only this spring ​was found to have libelled a 15-year-old pupil at a school ​in Huddersfield (the specific incident was in 2018). His criminal convictions include violence, fraud and public order offences. He has also spent time in prison. None of that, though, should deprive him of his human rights, and his own right to free speech under the law – though he chooses to abuse it.

He has described himself as a journalist but he seems to have a poor understanding of the meaning of “contempt of court” – and how reckless reporting can pervert the course of justice.

Or perhaps he doesn’t care, and enjoys the attention he receives when he gets arrested. It may be, to borrow a phrase, “virtue signalling”, “performative” behaviours to retain his standing with his followers. Either way, he has extreme views, and he can express them – and he’s most free to do so. What he cannot do is threaten a journalist.

Even if Robinson does not himself personally wish to inflict violence, there must be many of his hot-headed followers who’d be happy to do as they imagine he wishes. He has his fans and, as the judge noted, he “knows the power of his words in relation to his followers”.

At a time when journalists – and journalism itself – are under unprecedented attack, it is some comfort to see that the threat to media freedom is still understood and acted upon, by the courts and by others. As The Independent has made clear in its Journalism is Not a Crime campaign – protecting a free press is vital for us all.

The Nobel Peace Prize this year went to two journalists, Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression. They have found themselves being intimidated by the agents of Vladimir Putin and Rodrigo Duterte, and are thus under the most extreme and mortal jeopardy; but threats and intimidation from cranks and fantasists are what writers and reporters increasingly have to try to deal with, the world over.

So, far from being “cancelled”, as they so often claim, extremists and the criminals have never been louder, online or on the street – or more deadly. Journalists all around the world are being intimated and assassinated for telling the truth – but journalism will never be silenced.