Department of Immigration and Citizenship film crew completely legitimate

Letter to the Editor - Crikey
28 April 2008

Dear Sir/Madam

Your ‘tip’ alleging my video production team and stills photographer ‘posed as media’ at the torch relay is wildly misleading, and plain wrong.

The three-person crew was dressed in immigration corporate clothing, including an immigration-badged polo top and immigration identity badge, accredited by the ACT Government’s torch relay organisers to cover the event with the working media.

Their torch relay accreditation card identified them as being from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship with the word MEDIA. This is a common practice for many event organisers when requiring all TV crews and photographers - be they from private media, government-funded (e.g. ABC) media, public service agency communications units etc - to be pre-cleared for security and planning purposes.

If your informant doesn't like the idea my award-winning team whose work is available online, in our annual reports, in marketing materials, and included as part of our in-house corporate TV news program Our People, was considered to be ‘media’ for purposes of security clearance, then take up the issue with the organisers.

Finally, I can categorically confirm that the only use of this material will be in department publications, department video productions and on the department's website.

Sandi Logan
National Communications Manager,
Department of Immigration and Citizenship