You should only report media contact when you are contacted by a journalist

When dealing with the media, it's important to remember your priority is to your patients and your profession.

Patient confidentiality

The GMC advises in Confidentiality: responding to criticism in the media that your response to the media should usually be limited to explaining your duty of confidentiality. You are legally and ethically bound to respect a patient's confidentiality at all times.

Because of this, doctors are usually unable to give their side of the story. No such constraints are placed on patients when making allegations or statements to the press, and media coverage can often seem very one-sided as a result.

This can be frustrating, but you must remember patient confidentiality comes first.

Maintaining professionalism

The GMC's Good medical practice (2013) states that doctors should 'act with integrity' and 'work in partnership with patients'. Keep this in mind when considering your interactions with the press.

Getting into a public dispute can be seen as unprofessional. Clashes between doctors and patients in the media can prolong or even worsen the situation, and may undermine the public's confidence in you and your profession.

What to do if you're approached by the media

If you are approached by the media for any reason, you may find it helpful to follow some basic rules.

• Get the journalist's details. Ask who they are, which outlet they work for and ask for a phone number so you can contact them in your own time.
• Contact the MDU press office. The MDU can help with preparing a response, and may be able to liaise with the press on your behalf.
• Call them back. Journalists are unlikely to go away if you just ignore them, so it's advisable to be in contact even if it's just to say you can't comment because of your duty of confidentiality.
• Always treat journalists as 'on the record'. Be careful what you say, as any comments you make could be used in a story.

It's possible to inadvertently confirm something by denial or omission. Even something as simple as confirming that someone is a patient may breach your legal and ethical obligations.

Being photographed

As well as your comments, the press may want to take your picture to accompany their story.

• Don't 'cover up': let them take their photo and the photographer will usually leave. Hiding your face or turning away from the camera may also give the impression that you've got something to hide.
• Remember patient confidentiality is key: this must be respected by photographers as well as doctors (for example, if they arrive at your practice).
• Ensure photographers aren't being obstructive: photographers are legally allowed to take pictures on the public highway, but you should make sure patients can't be identified and patient access isn't obstructed.

Making a statement

It's best to keep communication with the press to a minimum. This will help maintain both your professionalism and your duties to your patients.

If you do need to make a statement - for example, if a case against you has concluded in your favour - the MDU's press office can help you draft a suitable response, and can be reached on 020 7202 1535.

Alternatively, call the MDU's medico-legal helpline on 0800 716 646.

This page was correct at publication on 23/02/2021. Any guidance is intended as general guidance for members only. If you are a member and need specific advice relating to your own circumstances, please contact one of our advisers.

Most people have never talked to journalists before – but if you know more about something in the news, or something at your work is bothering you, or a story strikes a chord with your life, you may want to speak to a reporter.

All public interest stories rely on people who are willing to speak out about something bothering them, and many start with a potential source approaching a reporter – if that might be you, please do get in touch, but read the advice below to make sure you have considered and minimised any potential risks to you.

If you want to speak to someone at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, you can get in touch with any of our journalists directly, or if you’re not sure who to speak to, you can email us at our general account at . We check this inbox regularly.

We are a small organisation and our kind of reporting takes weeks or months at a time – so we can’t pursue every story we hear about, even if we think that it is important. If your story doesn’t relate to a subject we are already pursuing, you might be best approaching a larger news organisation – but we would be happy to try to point you in the right direction if you’re not sure.

We do not have staff for walk-in appointments so please do not arrive at our offices as we will be unable to see you without an appointment.

Many major stories and investigations start with approaches from people with a story to tell. If you think you might be one of them, please do get in touch.

Protecting your identity

There are lots of reasons you might not want your name attached to your story – especially if you’re talking about your employer, or even about the government.

No reporter or news organisation can offer you a 100% guarantee that they can protect your anonymity, and you should not trust anyone who makes this promise. What good reporters and organisations can do is try everything they can to protect your identity if this is what you want.

If you ask a reporter to keep things “off the record” that is an agreement that they will not use your name or details without your permission. This is taken very seriously by journalists and will only be broken in the most serious of circumstances.

A reporter will use information learned “off the record” to inform their reporting – especially if it can be backed up by documents – and may wish to discuss with you using quotes attributed to “a current employee”, “a former employee” or “someone with firsthand knowledge of the matter”. If you absolutely do not wish to be quoted at all, you should make this clear.

It may be the case that your story could only be told if you go “on the record” – revealing your name and identity – but a good reporter will be happy to chat off the record first, until you build up mutual trust.

For most stories, it is important for the journalist to know the identity of who they are speaking to, even if they keep that confidential from the public. There are, however, rare cases where a source remains anonymous even to the reporter.

Things you can do

In the internet era, there are lots of ways for someone to find out who spoke to a reporter once a story is published. This can be an employer, or someone in your household, or similar.

Generally, if you are trying to give information about your employer, you should never contact a reporter from a work computer, account, or mobile phone. You should only use your personal mobile phone or laptop, and your own email account or number – you can also create a new, anonymous email account for this purpose.

Encrypted messaging apps can often be more secure than email. Common apps many reporters use are WhatsApp, Signal or Keybase. If you’re familiar with using these and have a number for the reporter you are trying to contact, these can be a good approach – otherwise, you can email and set up a conversation on a more secure channel.

Good reporters will try their best to help you protect your identity, but there are limits to what they can do: if your first contact is from a work computer, it is likely they could track that contact. Similarly, if you’re sharing information that only a small number of people know (rather than say, dozens) then that could be traced too.

It is important to think of the risks of speaking to a reporter, what you have done to protect yourself, and how important you think the information you are sharing is.

Public interest journalism relies on people talking to reporters – we hope this guide has helped you make your decision.

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