STATE surveillance is an “attack on public interest journalism,” a former BBC reporter has said as his tribunal hearing into MI5 phone hacking began today.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal is hearing a case of unlawful surveillance against former BBC Northern Ireland home affairs correspondent Vincent Kearney. 

The three-day hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London follows an admission by MI5 that it illegally obtained communications data from Mr Kearney’s phone on two occasions in 2006 and 2009.

Mr Kearney said: “The extent of the admitted illegal monitoring of my communications data [to] identify sources was shocking and stark and it’s likely there was more than has been publicly conceded.   

“These activities were not just an attack on me and my journalism, but also the journalism of the BBC and on public interest journalism itself.”

The case arose from a separate tribunal ruling in December 2024 that found surveillance of NUJ members Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey by Police Service of Northern Ireland and Met Police was unlawful.

National Union of Journalists general secretary Laura Davison called the revelations “deeply disturbing” and said her union demands “a broader, independent investigation to uncover the full extent” of surveillance.