Govt denies military spied on journalist

WELLINGTON: New Zealand said yesterday there is no evidence that either the US or the New Zealand military spied on a journalist in Afghanistan who was freelancing for the American news organisation McClatchy.

But Prime Minister John Key said it’s theoretically possible that reporters could get caught in surveillance nets when the US spies on enemy combatants.

The comments came in response to a report in the Sunday Star-Times newspaper that the New Zealand military, assisted by US spy agencies, collected phone metadata to monitor journalist Jon Stephenson, a New Zealander. The story by journalist Nicky Hager said the military became unhappy at Mr Stephenson’s reporting on how it treated Afghan prisoners.

‘‘We have identified no information at this time that supports Mr Hager’s claims,’’ Major General Tim Keating, the acting defence force chief, said in a statement. US surveillance programmes have become the focus of a global debate since former defence contract worker Edward Snowden leaked classified information about the National Security Agency (NSA) in June. The US says the NSA programmes are necessary to avert terror attacks, while critics have called it unregulated spying.

Also yesterday, New Zealand Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman acknowledged an embarrassing confidential order that lists investigative journalists alongside spies and terrorists as potential threats to New Zealand’s military.

That document was leaked to Mr Hager. Mr Coleman said the order will be modified to remove references to journalists.

He also said the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) had conducted an extensive search of its records over the weekend and had found no evidence that either it or any other agency had spied on Mr Stephenson.

‘‘The collection of metadata on behalf of the NZDF by the US would not be a legitimate practice, when practiced on a New Zealand citizen,’’ Mr Coleman said. ‘‘It wouldn’t be something I would support as the minister, and I’d be very concerned if that had actually been the case.’’

Metadata is the information associated with a phone call or an email, such as the location of the caller or sender, or the length of the call. It is analogous to the information available on the envelope of a letter sent by regular mail.

Gen Keating, the defence chief, said the military officers responsible for operations in Afghanistan had assured him there had been no unlawful monitoring of Mr Stephenson by New Zealand or foreign spy agencies.

Mr Key told a reporter from The New Zealand Herald newspaper that ‘‘if you rang a member of the Taliban that the Americans were monitoring because they believed them to be a threat, then in theory that’s how you could show up’’.

‘‘I’m not saying that’s happened. I’m just saying that we don’t go and monitor journalists,’’ he added.