The Hamilton Spectator must give the OPP photos of a native protest for use in a police investigation.
Superior Court Justice James Ramsay denied the newspaper's bid to withhold the pictures of a protest in Caledonia. Police want the photos to identify natives who investigators say threatened and assaulted five officers in a confrontation April 26.
Managing editor, news, Jim Poling said he was extremely disappointed with the decision.
"Newspapers have a large and significant public-interest role and it's important that we maintain our independence," he said.
The paper will decide by Monday if it will appeal the decision.
On May 2, OPP obtained a search warrant to obtain 170 published and unpublished photos taken by Hamilton Spectator photographers. The warrant detailed allegations that native protesters threatened and assaulted police. At one point, an officer said in the document that he felt he might need to draw his gun.
Two DVDs containing the photos were sealed in an envelope that was set aside until the application was heard.
Spectator lawyer Brian Rogers argued the warrant was granted without proof that police had tried to gather the evidence in other ways. Ramsay's response questioned what alternative sources there could be.
Rogers also suggested the OPP was using journalists to gather evidence out of fear for what would happen if it tried to take photographs.
In a written decision, Ramsay rejected those arguments.
Without hearing submissions from the Crown attorney representing police, he ruled The Spectator must hand over the photographs. He said there was no indication the paper would suffer harm as a result.