When covering the riots late at night and into the early hours, the BBC often used footage from several hours earlier (still daylight) as background. I think any argument that "exceptional situations, ie a major news story" give a public interest justification for using material before getting permission is very weak. I'm not sure what fair dealing provision the BBC are appealing to in some of the other comments claiming to be from BBC staff (posting in a personal capacity), either.
Why the downvotes, please? Doesn't the very fact that the BBC's main coverage was using hours-old video despite having reporters and camera crews at the scene through the night rather negate any argument they might make that they need to use anyone's material before they have time to get permission because of some sort of urgency/public interest argument?
