Ministers have applied for secrecy orders to suppress evidence in a court challenge to the legality of armed police searches at the homes of two journalists.
John Penrose, the Northern Ireland minister, is seeking public interest immunity (PII) certificates in the case before the High Court in Belfast which is seen as a major test of press freedom.
The case is a potential embarrassment to the government at a time when Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, has asked Amal Clooney, the human rights lawyer, to head a review into threats to media freedom around the world.
The journalists, Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney, are taking judicial review proceedings over the raids on their homes and offices carried out because of their involvement in a documentary,