The SNP has been accused of infringing press freedoms by limiting media access to its leadership hustings ahead of a U-turn.
The Society of Editors said preventing journalists from attending the events that will help decide the next first minister of Scotland was “infringing on the media’s ability to scrutinise matters of significant public interest on behalf of the Scottish people”.
Kate Forbes, Ash Regan and Humza Yousaf are currently in the running to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and first minister following her shock resignation last month.
The first of nine planned husting events is due to take place on Wednesday night at Cumbernauld Theatre in North Lanarkshire.
The SNP initially said journalists would not be allowed into the events to create a “safe space” for its members.
The party then partially U-turned on Tuesday night after Sky, STV, ITN and the BBC joined together to challenge the ban.
STV was allowed access to send one camera to record the Cumbernauld hustings, along with a single print journalist and one radio journalist.
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The journalists would have been working on a pooled basis, meaning they would have been covering the event on behalf of the entire media.
However, an SNP spokesperson told Sky News later on Wednesday there would be a livestream of the event on the party’s social media pages.
Dawn Alford, executive director of the Society of Editors, previously branded the ban “outrageous”.
Following the partial change of plan, she said: “While the society welcomes the decision by party bosses to U-turn on allowing the media access to this evening’s event, the default position should always have been in favour of openness and transparency.
“By preventing the media’s access to hustings events, party bosses were infringing on the media’s ability to scrutinise matters of significant public interest on behalf of the Scottish people.
“It is not just in the interests of party members to hear what the candidates have to say but the wider public as well.”
‘It looks like press freedoms are being infringed’
Daily Record political editor Paul Hutcheon also said the earlier arrangements were “deeply unsatisfactory”.
In an interview with Good Morning Scotland, he said: “It looks like press freedoms are being infringed and I think the story will develop during the day.”
He stated that it was a “terrible look” and a “shambles of the SNP’s own making”.
Mr Hutcheon added: “I think they have an allergy to transparency. If you look at SNP headquarters there are questions about donations, about loans and I think their instincts are not to allow media into these things.”
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All three candidates in the contest have said they believe the media should be able to fully report on the events.
Ms Forbes said all of the hustings should be live-streamed to allow party members and the general public to watch.
Ms Regan said they had “a duty to be held to scrutiny”, while Mr Yousaf said he had “no problem” with the media seeing any of the hustings, but ultimately the decision was one for the party’s National Executive Council (NEC).
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Opposition parties took aim at the SNP before the shift in position, with Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross claiming the party is “once again hiding from proper scrutiny”.
A spokesperson for the SNP’s NEC said: “We are in discussion with media outlets making a request for access to our members’ hustings event in Cumbernauld, and we’re already looking at ways to make content available to our wider membership for the remainder of this series of events.”
Earlier, the party initially said: “SNP members are the lifeblood of our party and our movement.
“It is the members who will be voting for the next leader of the party, so the SNP NEC has designed the party hustings as a safe space for members to ask questions of the three candidates.”
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The ballot of SNP members is set to run between 13 and 27 March. The new SNP leader and first minister will be announced thereafter.
