06 Informed


News Update


Journalists under fire as gunmen roam free


Amnesty International


Since scores of armed officers burst into their homes on 31 August last year, NUJ members Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffery have been clear on one thing, the police action was designed to put a chill on investigative journalism. Seven months on, they remain on police bail, their movement in and out of Northern Ireland is restricted and the police have atempted to prevent them from speaking about the case. Both worked on Oscar-winning director


Alex Gibney’s No Stone Unturned documentary feature, released in November 2017. It investigates the Lochinisland massacre of 1994 in which Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen sprayed a country pub with automatic rifle fire, killing six and wounding five. Te film named the chief suspects and laid bare the Royal Ulster Constabulary’s apparently wilful failure to bring convictions in the case. “Once the film was released, Northern Ireland’s chief constable, George Hamilton, had a choice.” said Barry McCaffrey. “He could launch a proper investigation to bring the killers to justice, or he could pursue the journalists who had shown up the force; sadly, he chose the later.” Teir original arrests were made on the


pretext that they had stolen documents from the Police Ombudsman – that body has since made it clear that it has made no complaint about theſt. In March, the authorities atempted


to amend the existing bail conditions to prevent the journalists from talking publicly about the police investigation. Tis was successfully opposed by the journalists’ lawyers, and the NUJ condemned this extraordinary atempt to restrict the journalists’ freedom of speech. “Tis atempt to gag us shows the lengths that police will go to hide


New law on copyright welcomed


Te NUJ has welcomed the Copyright Directive in the Digital Single Market passed by the European Parliament. Te union worked with the


Barry McCaffery and Trevor Birney


the facts,” said Barry. Te men are feeling the pressure. “We go through a whole range of emotions of anger, guilt, resignation,” he said. Tey have been granted leave by the High Court to seek a judicial review, expected in May, to challenge the legality of the search warrants and the NUJ continues to campaign for the case to be dropped At a meeting of MPs in Westminster,


pledges of assistance came from cross- party politicians including Tony Lloyd, the shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland, John McDonnell, Tom Watson, David Davis and Liz Saville Roberts. During their stay in London, the two


atended the Amnesty International media awards. Michelle Stanistreet said: “Tis case is the biggest specific threat to press freedom in UK at present and should be a major concern to all journalists.” Screenings of the film with Trevor and Barry present will take place in in Glasgow on Sunday 14 April and in Edinburgh on Monday 15 April.


International and European Federations of Journalists to get in place this important and long-awaited piece of legislation which aims to give artists, musicians and publishers a beter chance of being paid when their work appears on the internet. Under article 13, platforms such as Google and YouTube will be required to filter or remove copyrighted material from their websites. Memes and GIFs which are parodies or pastiches will be exempted. Article 13 says content-sharing services must license copyright-protected material from the rights holders. Under article 11, Google’s news


platform will need to take out licences with publishers such as newspapers for showing content that is less than two years old on its news feed. Te EU member states have two years to transpose it into their own laws. Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general


secretary, said: “Te European Parliament’s adoption of the Copyright Directive is the culmination of years of campaigning and collective effort by trade unionists and campaigners around the world, including the NUJ and our sister unions. Tat work has been motivated by a shared determination to ensure that journalists and other creatives are properly rewarded for the work they create, and that their rights and livelihoods are not trampled on or ignored by the major global entities that dominate the media industry.”


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