The BBC, like other broadcasters, has a well-established process in place for dealing with police requests for untransmitted footage. Put simply - we require requests for such material to be made through the courts.

We have to consider in each case whether an order is justified and occasionally we conclude that it isn't and that it's necessary to challenge it. On Thursday a successful challenge was made which led to a significant ruling from the courts which fundamentally reinforces the independence of news organisations from the police.

In this case the order was so wide ranging it amounted to a fishing expedition. We believe journalists must maintain their independence, must not be seen as evidence gatherers and must not have their safety compromised. There is a real concern that our crews would be prevented from doing their job if the subjects they were filming thought the material was inevitably going to be passed onto the police. All of these things would be undermined by the courts agreeing to unfocused and speculative applications for footage.

The broadcasters won the challenge and the footage as requested won't now be released.

But, more importantly that that, today's guidance makes it clear that applications must be supported by proper evidence, must be focused and proportionate and the court has acknowledged that the over-use of production orders may make it harder for the press to do its job.

This won't change the way we deal with such requests in the future - our processes are tried and tested and designed to protect the independence of our journalism and the safety of our staff, whatever the subject of the footage. This remains an important principle and one which we will continue to take very seriously.

But the BBC, and other broadcasters, have been getting an increasing number of such police requests, which most people hear little about as they pass through the courts, and this ruling will significantly benefit both news organisations and our audiences.

Fran Unsworth is head of Newsgathering at BBC News.

Today is World Press Freedom Day and during recent days we have learnt that BBC World News, our 24/7 international news channel, has been jammed by Chinese authorities during stories they regard as sensitive.

This included Damian Grammaticas' report yesterday on Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng leaving the US embassy.

This deliberate electronic interference of the channel's distribution signal is just the latest in a long line of examples to block our impartial news and prevent it reaching audiences.

The BBC's Chinese language website has been consistently blocked in China, apart from a brief respite during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and our radio broadcasts in Mandarin were historically subject to persistent frequency interference for decades.
And these issues are certainly not just restricted to China.

In November, BBC World News was taken off-air in Pakistan by cable operators for broadcasting a documentary entitled Secret Pakistan.

BBC Persian TV has suffered deliberate interference to its broadcasting signals intermittently since its launch and the online service has consistently been blocked.

Other international broadcasters including Deutsche Welle and Voice of America have also been subject to deliberate electronic interference by the Iranian authorities.

In addition, in recent months, new tactics have been introduced which should be of deep concern to all those who believe in a free and independent international media.

This includes the intimidation of the families and acquaintances in Iran of BBC Persian's London-based staff. All journalists should be allowed to operate freely and any attempt to intimidate those known to them, is very concerning.

We strongly condemn these acts of censorship and harassment. The BBC has a long history of standing up to these attempts to prevent access to free media. This includes working closely with other international broadcasters to highlight these issues and encourage concerted international action.

We would again urge the countries where jamming, censorship and harassment emanates from, to stop these restrictive practices.

It is also imperative that the global community is doing all they can to counter attempts to block authoritative news.

The challenges that our international journalists face have never been so many and varied.

The BBC will continue to represent the voice of free media where there is no other access to fair and authoritative news - be it because of suppression and persecution of journalists, a growth in state sponsored media or attempts to jam or censor our news.

Today, on World Press Freedom Day, we repeat the call on international governments and the relevant regulatory bodies to put maximum pressure on those who seek to block access to trusted and independent news.

Peter Horrocks is director, BBC Global News

People living in London and its surrounding areas on Wednesday joined those in other parts of the country who have gone through digital switchover.

One of the effects of this is that they will no longer have access to Ceefax, which is broadcast via the analogue signal.

Although we won't be saying our proper goodbyes to Ceefax until later in the year when switchover is complete across the country (viewers in Northern Ireland, for instance, will still be able to see it until October), I wanted to send a note of reassurance and a reminder: our digital text service, available via the red button to people who use cable, satellite or Freeview, provides national, local and international news, plus sport, weather and much else besides.

And it is still produced by the editorial team which has long provided Ceefax and the BBC News website.

UPDATE 20 April 11:25 BST

Q Reading your article I immediately want to scream out NOT TRUE! For those of us who use their Tivo service, when we press the red button all we get is iPlayer, hence missing a lot of content. I am assured that by the time the Olympics come around we will have access to Red Button content; I am not holding my breath given Virgin's history of delivering late.

A As of last week, we now offer a Red Button BBC News service on Tivo. It's a full-screen experience that also offers on-demand video, so not an exact replacement for Ceefax, but we hope it offers an innovative and useful way to keep up with the News.

Q The digital equivalent of Ceefax is far inferior mainly due to the fact that you have to watch telly on the screen along with the text - there is no way of switching the telly screen part off. I find that infuriating! Please, Beeb, can you fix this?

A The Red Button service is designed to allow viewers to read content while keeping in touch with what is on the TV channel they were watching. We do not currently offer any means to turn the TV off in the background - apologies to those who find this annoying.

Q The beauty of Ceefax was you could quickly take it in while watching a programme. With Red Button it takes you away from the programmes for a very long time, and this seems a backward step. With smartphones I can access more information quickly without having to switch off the show I'm watching, which makes it look like the Red Button service is almost obsolete before it's barely begun.

A It's true that in many ways smartphones offer a handy way to consume information while watching TV, and it would not be sensible for us to develop Red Button services in a way that simply tries to replicate this. With the design of the new News IPTV service, we are offering a service which prioritises video on-demand over text (though you can get both). We'd be interested to know people's feedback on this approach.

Q I did write about this to the BBC but have had no reply. Last week during the second test there was no run-by-run coverage as there was on page 341. Why is this? If it is as good as Ceefax, why are they not carrying this page? There would never be an issue of live footy scores being carried.


A I'm afraid I don't know the answer to this, but have passed on the question to colleagues at BBC Sport.

Steve Herrmann is editor of the BBC News website.