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Russia Today video team 'refused entry to London arms fair over tweet'

by on13 September 2013



So much for press freedom in the West

A team Russia Today had its press credentials for the Defense & Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair, London revoked for including the #stopDSEI hashtag in a personal tweet.

Jason Parkinson, a freelance video journalist had sent two tweets linking to Ruptly video content from the first day of the arms fair, organised by Clarion Events, that ended with the #stopDSEI hash tag.

"The StopDSEi hashtag was used to flag up and further promote the work of Ruptly to people who were following that specific hashtag," Parkinson told Journalism.co.uk via email.

However when the crew arrived for the second day of the event they filmed a rooftop protestor before entering the building, and then were "held" in the DSEI press office for 30 minutes, before they were told the entire Ruptly team had had its press accreditation revoked.

In the UK "tweeting to publicise stories and real-time coverage has become standard practice among journalists, as has the use of hashtags". Parkinson told the Guardian that there had been no agenda with his reporting – it has just been us recording what is going on and what people are saying.

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