13 LIFE MEMBERSHIP


Editor of the Galway City Tribune, Mike Glynn, was presented with his Life Membership of the NUJ recently. The presentation followed a seminar on Data Protection and Libel hosted by the West of Ireland branch in Galway. Pictured above are Siobhan Holliman, chairperson, West of Ireland; Dara Bradley, West of Ireland branch and Connacht Tribune; Gerry Carson,


cathaoirleach, IEC; Enda Cunningham, West of Ireland branch and Connacht Tribune; Mike Glynn, editor, Galway City Tribune; Stephen Corrigan, West of Ireland branch and Connacht Tribune; Judy Murphy, secretary West of Ireland branch and Connacht Tribune; and Bernie Ní Fhlatharta, West of Ireland branch and formerly Connacht Tribune. Photo: Ray Ryan


Belfast & District fighting Ulster Rugby ban


NUJ members in Belfast took swift action on Ulster Rugby’s decision to bar news journalists from a match press conference on April 24, calling on the ban to be lifted. A formal open letter to Ulster Rugby was


agreed, and within 24 hours some 90 members from Belfast and District and Derry & North West had added their names to the letter, which was sent on Thursday, April 26th. Shortly after the letter and signatures were


delivered, Ulster Rugby agreed to meet with Belfast and District representatives Gerry Carson, branch chairperson; and Ciarán Ó Maoláin, branch secretary. On May 1st, Gerry and Ciarán had a lengthy


meeting with Shane Logan, Ulster Rugby chief executive; and director of marketing and communications, Fiona Hampton. The outcome of that meeting is expected to be confirmed shortly. Irish Secretary Séamus Dooley and Irish Organiser Ian McGuiness joined Gerry Carson


and Ciarán Ó Maoláin in explaining the NUJ’s action in a number of media interviews. The open letter reads: “We, as members of Belfast & District and Derry & North West branches of the National Union of Journalists, protest at the decision of Ulster Rugby to bar news reporters from participation in pre-match news conferences. “This attempt to stifle media coverage of the


context and consequences of the recent trial is an unjustifiable interference with the freedom of the press, and with the rights of everyone to freedom of information and expression. “The sports journalists among our membership fully understand the wider public interest in this matter. We reject and condemn the attempt by Ulster Rugby to divide us by restricting access to rugby correspondents, while denying other bona fide journalists the right to ask questions and inform their readerships and audiences. “A free and open media is the cornerstone of democracy in which openness and transparency of information is crucial.”


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