Nicky Fisher, who is shown in video footage being assaulted by a police sergeant at the vigil for Ian Tomlinson, has reportedly hired Max Clifford to represent her, and is rumoured to be asking £50k for an exclusive interview. It might seem like a bizarre juxtaposition – Clifford, typically associated with "kiss-and-tell" tabloid stories, and Fisher, apparently an "anti-capitalist" protestor - but in other ways it makes perfect sense. Many have accused her of "selling out", but what would you do if the press were hammering at your door, desperate for a scoop? There is something of a tradition of anti-capitalists 'playing the system', such as when Chumbawumba accepted large sums of money for letting Ford and Renault use their music, and promptly gave all the proceeds to support the likes of Indymedia and Corporate Watch.

But the more worrying issue is that when the police itself attacks you, who else can you turn to but the media? If the police will use batons and dogs, and twist the law at their whim, then who can blame Fisher for calling in Clifford, who may not be the most savoury weapon in the media arsenal, but who at least knows how to direct a media spotlight. It's an unsatisfactory, but inevitable, answer to the question 'who polices the police'?

The Independent Police Complaints Commission have proven that they don't. They reacted to the Guardian publishing the video of the apparent assault on Ian Tomlinson by turning up with a policeman at their offices and demanding that the footage be taken down. It is a testament to the Guardian that they resisted this attempt, because until then the IPCC had been happy to take the police's account of all events as accurate accounts - something the video exposed as either criminally naïve or massively corrupt.

But it's also important to remember that while of course Ian Tomlinson's death needs to be properly investigated, as does the alleged assault on Nicky Fisher; these were not isolated incidents. The policemen involved in those incidents should be prosecuted if they broke the law, and it is damning that the Sergeant involved in Fisher's case removed his identification number, showing a premeditated desire to hide his identity, but they should not be allowed to become scapegoats for everything that happened over the first two days in April.

The problems at the G20 protests and the subsequent vigil for Tomlinson were systemic and institutional failures in policing, and worse, these failures were not restricted to the protests. A story has come out today of a pair of tourists being told that photographing anything to do with transport is "strictly forbidden" in London, and being made to delete photos of various sites including Vauxhall bus station. The Met later admitted that there is no ban on photographing public transport in the capital, and has said it will launch an investigation, but once again the question is raised as to who can independently investigate and hold the police to account? In the absence of a suitable body, those tourists too have turned to the media.

The police knew that a free press at the protests would expose their tactics, and that's why footage has also emerged of officers telling the press to leave areas of the protest "under section 14", a law actually intended to disperse violent groups, not journalists with cameras. The Metropolitan police have since apologised for using it against the press, which means that the senior policemen on the scene either did not know the law, which is worrying, or they wilfully misused it, which is terrifying.

Since the 19th Century, the term 'the Fourth Estate' has been used to describe the role that the press has in holding the Monarchy, the Lords and the Commons to account. Today, the Police need to be held to account, but fortunately, the press can now call on everyone from Max Clifford to a guy with a camera-phone, from the Guardian to people like you and me, submitting articles to Ctrl.Alt.Shift.

This is why it is imperative that laws preventing people from photographing police are withdrawn, and why the entire police force needs to be reformed so that it truly protects the public, not simply it's own interests. Until this happens, it can be no surprise that individuals like Nicky Fisher turn to the media as our best hope of gaining justice against an increasingly tyrannical police force.

Photo from flickr user - ludoboss