7 IRISH BIENNIAL DELEGATE CONFERENCE 2019 Defending Journalism


in Times of Crisis Biennial Delegate Conference 2019


www.nuj.org.uk


A message from the joint cathaoirligh of the IEC


Attacks on press freedom dominate busy NUJ agenda


The main tasks of the NUJ remain advocating for members’ pay and working conditions, but it is often the unexpected and terrible that pushes the work of the NUJ into the headlines.


The past two years have been dominated by


two key events in Northern Ireland – the shameful arrest in Belfast of two documentary film-makers and later, the shocking killing in Derry of a 29- year-old journalist, shot dead while simply doing her job.


The response was swift when the PSNI arrested


Belfast and District members Barry Mc Caffrey and Trevor Birney, the journalists behind the documentary film “No Stone Unturned,” and confiscated their material and equipment.


Condemnation from NUJ members and sister unions worldwide was followed by protests outside police stations, and subsequently outside Belfast High Court. The arrest? An allegation that the journalists had access to documents stolen from the NI Police Ombudsman’s office in the making of their powerful film about the collusion of police and security forces in the shootings 25 years ago of six men, murdered while watching a football match in a pub in Loughinisland, Co Down.


The arrest saga continued for months. Activists turned out consistently in support of Trevor and Barry. Finally, in a decision that vindicated the film- makers, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland ruled that the police action was wrong and unjustifiable.


The Lord Chief Justice, Declan Morgan, said the journalists were acting in “nothing other than a perfectly appropriately way in doing what the NUJ required of them, which was to protect their


sources.”


Earlier this year, the shock which followed the killing by a New IRA gunman in Derry of Lyra McKee while covering a riot was instant and universal. Books of condolences were swiftly opened in Belfast, Derry, and many other cities.


There was widespread condemnation of the


shooting, with calls from all quarters to end the violence. Representatives of all political parties attended Lyra’s funeral in Belfast, as well as UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, and President Michael D. Higgins; officials and activists from the NUJ and other trade unions, the mayors of Belfast and Derry and countless other dignitaries, united in the grief of having lost such a shining star to the bullets of a yet unnamed killer.


It is our earnest wish that the PSNI bring


Lyra’s killer to justice, and that the failure to find the killers of Belfast NUJ Secretary Martin O’Hagan, shot dead 18 years ago, will not be repeated.


Gerry Carson and Bernie Mullen Joint Cathaoirligh, IEC


Defending Journalism


in Times of Crisis Biennial Delegate Conference 2019


www.nuj.org.uk


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