news IFJ blasts Trump over attacks on the media


DONALD TRUMP’S continuing assaults on the mainstream media in the US has come under fire from the International Federation of the Journalists (IFJ). In the wake of Trumpian broadsides against organisations such as ABC and legal action against NBC and others, the IFJ has launched a strong defence of factual reporting. Anthony Bellanger, general secretary of the IFJ told The Journalist: “As journalists, we are committed to truth, transparency, and holding power accountable. Donald Trump’s persistent attacks on the media are a direct assault on these fundamental principles and clearly undermine democracy. “We also must be aware that Donald Trump fills informational gaps and feeds them with his own narrative. Journalists must stop following his pace and rhythm and remember, as stated in our Global Charter of Ethics for Journalists, that ‘journalism is a profession and the notion of urgency or immediacy in the dissemination of information shall not prevail over fact-checking’.” Clearly it is difficult to ascertain what the president of the USA


believes; what he will continue to believe; what he has been told to say and what he says for effect. What is predictable is that any reporting that does not correspond to his narrative will be branded “fake news”. Nevertheless in March, he proclaimed: “I have stopped all


government censorship and brought back free speech in America. It’s back.” That is not the experience of the mainstream media in the US. Three weeks earlier he had banned Associated Press


journalists from the Oval Office and Airforce One, for failing to DEREK MCCABE “


adhere to Executive Order 14172 by refusing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”. As reported in the Guardian, he is also taking legal action


against ABC and CBS and the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, a Trump appointee, has ordered a series of investigations into NBC News, National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service. Trump has asserted that some media groups should be made “illegal” and he has cut funding from organisations like Voice of America. The White House lambasted Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of the Atlantic magazine, for revealing that he had been mistakenly invited into a secret Signal group during which a US attack on Yemen’s Houthi militia was being discussed.


Raymond Snoddy Page 9 Wilson aide Joe Haines dies aged 97


FORMER journalist and NUJ member Joe Haines died in February aged 97. He was best known for his role as


press secretary to Harold Wilson, Labour leader then prime minister in the 1960s and 1970s. Haines, who was from Rotherhithe,


London, began his career aged 14 as a copyboy on the Glasgow Bulletin before joining The Scottish Daily Mail in 1960 as a political correspondent.


From there he went to The Sun, then a left-leaning broadsheet, where he became political editor. The journalist, described by Labour as “a brilliant writer”, was reportedly vocal at NUJ meetings and held pay talks with unions. He had two stints advising Wilson


and went on to work for the Daily Mirror as political editor, assistant editor and a non-executive director.


Haines also wrote an authorised


biography of Robert Maxwell and a book called The Politics of Power. In later years, he was an occasional political commentator for publications including the Daily Mail. A Labour spokesperson said:


“Joe had two spells as press secretary to the former Labour prime minister in the late 1960s and mid-1970s, becoming one


Calls grow to release Lai


THE NUJ has joined the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in welcoming a statement by the UN special rapporteur on counter- terrorism and human rights, urging China and Hong Kong to release journalist Jimmy Lai. In March, professor Ben Saul addressed the UN


Human Rights Council in Geneva, stating that Jimmy Lai’s prosecution is “directly related to his criticism of the Chinese government and his support for democracy in Hong Kong SAR”. Saul highlighted his


concerns over the use of the national security law to bring


of his most trusted advisers. “The son of a Rotherhithe docker, who died when Joe was two, he was raised by his mother, a hospital cleaner. He left school at 11. “It was as a political correspondent that he came into his own. He was covering politics for the Sun pre- Rupert Murdoch when Wilson asked him to be his press secretary. “A fast and brilliant writer with


an acerbic tongue, he won a reputation for toughness and loyalty in equal measure.”


forward prosecutions against Lai and others for exercising their rights. Lai, 77, is serving five years and nine months in prison on charges of fraud for allegedly breaching the lease of former pro-democracy outlet Apple Daily. Since Apple Daily’s forced


closure, he has been subjected to prolonged solitary confinement during


his detention and complaints have been filed by legal representatives to the UN special rapporteur on torture. The NUJ and IFJ have


repeatedly called for Lai’s release. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has concluded that Lai is being arbitrarily detained and urged for his unconditional release. Others calling for this include Sir Keir Starmer.


theJournalist | 05


As journalists, we are committed to truth, transparency, and holding power accountable


Anthony Bellanger, IFJ general secretary


ZUMA PRESS, INC. / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO


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