Comments by the Lord Chief Justice at the High Court in Belfast yesterday marked an important step forward in the defence of press freedom in a case that has caused deep unease well beyond Northern Ireland.
Last year former Irish News journalist Barry McCaffrey and independent film maker Trevor Birney were detained, questioned and released and their homes and offices raided during an operation undertaken by Durham Constabulary, supported by PSNI officers.
The arrests came after the release of a major documentary, No Stone Unturned, which examined the sectarian murders of six men in Loughinisland, Co Down, in 1994.
Both journalists worked on the film - produced by Oscar-winning documentary maker Alex Gibney - which looked at claims of collusion in the killings, raised questions about the police investigation and named those suspected of involvement in the outrage.
They were subsequently arrested over the alleged theft of a Police Ombudsman document that appeared in the film and are both currently on bail.
The police actions represent an unjustified assault on the freedom of investigative journalists to perform their role in holding the authorities to account.
By any standards, the Loughinisland case was a shocking crime and it is entirely legitimate for the media to look into the serious allegations of collusion that have been raised. Journalists should not be criminalised for carrying out their job.
It is frankly disturbing that the police have chosen to focus their attention on those who have placed an uncomfortable spotlight on their actions rather than pursue those who committed murder and have not been brought to justice.
Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birney mounted a legal challenge against police, accusing them of unlawfully seizing millions of documents and files in the searches.
At the conclusion of the hearing yesterday, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, sitting with two other judges, said they were 'minded to quash the warrants on the basis they were inappropriate.'
The police should accept that their approach to this case has been wrong, return the seized material and lift the threat of criminal action against the two journalists.
