www.newsmedianews.com
--- NewsMediaNews ---
NEWS


Use Advanced Search

Login

         
Apply to report     registration help


Member of The Internet Defense League

+ Larger Font | + Smaller Font

PUBLISH
Make my home page

VIEW BY CATEGORY


News Resources
Countries

  Afghanistan
  Africa
  Albania
  Algeria
  Andorra
  Angola
  Anguilla
  Antigua
  Argentina
  Armenia
  Aruba
  Asia
  Australia
  Austria
  Azerbaijan
  Bahamas
  Bahrain
  Balkans
  Bangladesh
  Barbados
  Belarus
  Belgium
  Belize
  Benin
  Bermuda
  Bhutan
  Bosnia
  Bolivia
  Botswana
  Brazil
  Brunei
  Bulgaria
  Burkina
  Burma
  Burundi
  Cambodia
  Cameroon
  Canada
  Cape Verde
  Caribbean
  Cayman Islands
  Cen African Rep
  Chad
  Chile
  China
  Christmas Island
  Columbia
  Comoros
  Congo
  Cook Island
  Costa Rica
  Croatia
  Cuba
  Cyprus
  Czech/Slovakia
  Denmark
  Djibouti
  Dominican Republic
  Dubai
  East Timor
  Ecuador
  Egypt
  El Salvador
  Equatorial Guinea
  Eritrea
  Estonia
  Ethiopia
  Europe
  Faroe Islands
  Fiji
  Finland
  France
  Gabon
  Gambia
  Georgia
  Germany
  Ghana
  Greece
  Greenland
  Grenada
  Guadeloupe
  Guam
  Guatemala
  Guinea
  Guyana
  Haiti
  Holland
  Honduras
  Hong Kong
  Hungary
  Iceland
  India
  Indonesia
  Iran
  Iraq
  Ireland
  Israel
  Italy
  Ivory Coast
  Jamaica
  Japan
  Jordan
  Kazakhstan
  Kenya
  Kiribati
  Korea
  Kuwait
  Kyrgyzstan
  Laos
  Latvia
  Lebanon
  Lesotho
  Liberia
  Libya
  Lietchtenstein
  Lithuania
  London
  Luxembourg
  Macau
  Macedonia
  Madagascar
  Malawi
  Malaysia
  Maldives
  Mali
  Malta
  Marshall Islands
  Martinique
  Mauritania
  Mauritius
  Mexico
  Micronesia
  Moldova
  Monaco
  Mongolia
  Montenegro
  Montserrat
  Morocco
  Mozambique
  Namibia
  Nauru
  New Zealand
  Nicaragua
  Niue
  Niger
  Nigeria
  Northern Ireland
  Norway
  Oman
  Pakistan
  Palau
  Palestine
  Panama
  Paraguay
  Peru
  Philippines
  Pitcairn Islands
  Poland
  Portugal
  Qatar
  Romania
  Russia
  Rwanda
  Samoa
  San Marino
  Sao Tomé
  Saudi Arabia
  Scandinavia
  Senegal
  Serbia
  Seychelles
  Sierra Leone
  Singapore
  Slovakia
  Slovenia
  Solomon Islands
  Somalia
  South Africa
  South Americas
  Spain
  Sri Lanka
  St Kitts
  St Lucia
  St Pierre
  St Vincent
  Sudan
  Suriname
  Swaziliand
  Sweden
  Switzerland
  Syria
  Taiwan
  Tajikistan
  Tanzania
  Thailand
  Tibet
  Togo
  Tonga
  Trinidad
  Tunisia
  Turkey
  Turkmenistan
  Turks & Caicos
  Tuvalu
  Uganda
  Ukraine
  United Kingdom
  United States
  Uruguay
  Uzbekistan
  Vanuatu
  Venezuela
  Vietnam
  Virgin Islands
  Walli & Futuna
  Yemen
  Zambia
  Zimbabwe
  World

Suggest new Category




 

 

  GreatCampingSpots.com

 

 

 

In Association with Amazon.com

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Download complete CD of 10 songs

 

 


 

 

 

Click here to buy sell on eBay!

 

 

 

 

The Truth website

 


THE LEADING DIRECT NEWS INPUT LOCATION

Click to go to this page

 BE AWARE WHEN SOMEONE DESCRIBES THE INTERNET AS DANGEROUS



A Quote in Time

See full quotes list


 

Latest newsmedianews articles
This page shows all direct input items filed for the current month                    Search Direct Input items              Archives



Lyra McKee and press freedom       printable version
19 Apr 2020: posted by the editor - United Kingdom, Northern Ireland

On the eve of the first anniversary of the killing of journalist Lyra McKee, Reporters  Without Borders (RSF) reported on the worrying press freedom climate in Northern  Ireland, including alarming ongoing threats to journalists covering organised crime  and paramilitary activities, and a troubling legal environment. RSF calls on the UK  authorities to address these serious issues as a matter of urgent priority to prevent  further acts of violence, and to improve the broader press freedom situation in  Northern Ireland and the wider UK. 

In early March 2020, representatives of RSF’s UK bureau travelled to Belfast and Derry to  conduct a research mission, interviewing journalists, lawyers and civil society  representatives on the press freedom situation in Northern Ireland, and visiting the site of  journalist Lyra McKee’s murder in April 2019.

“The situation of press freedom in Northern Ireland is of serious and growing concern. We  were shocked by some of the reports we received from journalists in Belfast and Derry, who  are clearly among the most at-risk reporters in the UK. As we remember and honour Lyra  McKee, we must also act to protect those who continue to take great risks to report  information in the public interest. These issues must be addressed by the UK authorities as  a matter of urgent priority to prevent further acts of violence”, said RSF UK Bureau Director  Rebecca Vincent.

Although this report focuses on recent developments, the legacy of the Troubles -three  decades of violent conflict between unionists and nationalists from around 1968 to 1998 continues  to impact the political climate in Northern Ireland. The UK government continues  to face criticism regarding its failure to deliver answers and justice for nearly 2,000 cases of  killings that remain unsolved from the conflict -and its recent proposal to close the books on  most of these killings. Brexit presents a further complicating factor, with unresolved  questions about the impact on the Good Friday agreement, and fears that tension and  instability could reignite as the UK exits the EU.

We also note the significant lasting impact of longstanding impunity for the assassination of  Martin O’Hagan, an Irish investigative journalist with the Sunday World. O’Hagan was  gunned down on 28 September 2001 near Belfast. In 2007, a coroner ruled that O’Hagan’s  assassination was linked to his investigation of a paramilitary group, the Loyalist Volunteer  Force. The Police Chief Inspector told the coroner’s inquest he was confident that eight men  who had been arrested and questioned in the weeks following the attack were behind the  killing; however, police were unable to secure a prosecution, and no one has ever been  convicted in connection with the attack.

RSF underscores the pressing need for justice for O’Hagan, and supports the ongoing call  by the National Union of Journalists and others for an independent investigation into his  assassination. Ending violence against journalists in Northern Ireland will require addressing  both historical impunity and active acts -and threats -of violence.

 The killing of Lyra McKee
In the early hours of 18 April 2019, news of the killing of a journalist in Northern Ireland  shook the UK and the world; Lyra McKee was shot dead whilst observing rioting in the  Creggan area of Derry. She had been standing near a police vehicle with other observers, at  a distance of about 50 meters from a riot in the middle of the residential estate, where two  vehicles had been set on fire. Just eight minutes after arriving, McKee was hit in the head by  a bullet fired by a masked gunman; observers reported that no previous shots had been  fired. She was taken to hospital in a police vehicle, but died from her injuries.

Just 29 years old, McKee had worked as a freelance journalist contributing to a number of  newspapers, magazines, and websites, and had signed a two-book deal with Faber, which  described her as a “rising star” of investigative journalism. Faber published a posthumous  anthology of her work, ‘Lyra McKee: Lost, Found, Remembered’ on 2 April 2020, and has  stated it is reviewing a piece of investigative journalism she had been working on at the time  of her death called ‘The Lost Boys’. McKee won Sky News’ Young Journalists Award in  2006, and in 2016 was named as one of Forbes’ “30 under 30” in media in Europe.

The New IRA claimed responsibility for McKee’s murder, and police investigated the incident  as an act of terrorism. On 11 February 2020, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)  announced the arrests of four men in connection with the case, under the Terrorism Act. On  12 February, the PSNI reported that one of the men -later named as 52 year-old Paul  McIntyre -had been charged with McKee’s murder, as well as possession of a firearm with  intent to danger life, and professing to be a member of a proscribed organisation.

McIntyre has denied the charges. He remains in custody at Maghaberry high security prison,  following a 6 March ruling of the Belfast High Court overturning a prior decision of the  Londonderry Magistrates’ Court to grant him bail.

Crowds of McIntyre’s supporters gathered outside the court when he appeared on 13  February, cheering him, intimidating supporters of Lyra McKee, threatening journalists  covering the proceedings, and clashing with police. No such disturbances were reported  during subsequent hearings, when McIntyre appeared via videolink rather than in person.

When RSF representatives visited Derry in early March, several sites of “Free Paul McIntyre”  graffiti were visible in the Creggan area near the spot where McKee was killed. Other  instances of intimidatory graffiti have been reported in the area, such as “informers will be  executed”.

At the time of publication of this dispatch, committal proceedings in the murder case, initially  scheduled for 2 April, had been postponed due to the ongoing Coronavirus lockdown. It  remained unclear when they could resume. The full murder trial is expected to be held in  2021.

Ongoing threats to the safety of journalists 
 In recent weeks, active threats against a journalist connected to the case of Lyra McKee  captured national media attention. In early February, freelance journalist Leona O’Neill, who  had witnessed and reported on McKee’s killing, became the target of aggressive threats,  including a series of graffiti in the Creggan area of Derry calling her a “tout” (informer), linking  her to M15, and stating she was not welcome. The sites where the graffiti had been covered  were still visible when RSF visited in early March.

O’Neill responded publicly via Twitter: “I am neither a MI5 tout nor a shit stirrer. I am a  journalist, working in my city trying to provide for my family. I consider this a threat to my  safety. I call on community leaders to help me get this dangerous slur removed now”.

The threats followed O’Neill’s reporting for the Belfast Telegraph on the participation of  Saoradh -a dissident republican group linked to the New IRA -in Derry’s annual Bloody  Sunday commemoration march. O’Neill had previously faced extensive threats and abuse  after witnessing McKee’s killing.

O’Neill’s targeting highlights the broader risks faced by the dogged few journalists on the  security beat in Northern Ireland -those who cover paramilitary groups and organised crime,  which are often the same. Investigating this criminal activity, and exposing the financial  interests of the individuals involved, remains highly dangerous for journalists. Those RSF  spoke to had all become accustomed to receiving death threats.

Covering events where members of paramilitary groups gathered was also considered highly  risky -such as court hearings, funerals, and parades -“anywhere they know they could be  photographed”, as one journalist told RSF.

Sunday Life editor Martin Breen and chief reporter Ciaran Barnes have been outspoken on  the issue of how police inform journalists of threats to their safety by paramilitary and  organised crime groups. Speaking to Press Gazette, they detailed how the PSNI will often  warn journalists when there is a threat against them, but without giving information on where  the threat came from, making it impossible for journalists to adequately protect themselves.

Although police conduct home visits and provide advice on basic safety measures, the  journalists RSF spoke to viewed that advice as insufficient, and most had extensive  additional measures in place, such as home alarm systems and brick-proof windows. Some  had security support from their employers, but freelancers -even those who engaged in  regular shift work for specific publications -were left to attempt to protect themselves and  bear the related costs on their own.Legal remedies for harassment, threats, and acts of violence were simply not viewed as an  option, even when the perpetrator was known. One journalist said their “worst nightmare is  taking someone to court”, in light of the high probability of retaliation. The small size of  Belfast and especially Derry meant that everyone knew who was who, which could create  uncomfortable and potentially risky situations in everyday life.

Women journalists faced an additional element of sexualised threats and harassment, often  with a lack of solidarity or support from their male counterparts. They were also more likely to  face harassment, threats, and abuse online, mirroring a worrying national and indeed  international trend.

A worrying legal environment
When examining the legal environment for press freedom in Northern Ireland, one landmark  case stands out: that of investigative journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey. The  heavy-handed treatment by police of these two journalists seemed clearly intended to make  examples of them and create a chilling effect on whistleblowing and public interest reporting,  and outstanding questions of legality of the data that was seized could set an internationally  significant precedent.

On 31 August 2018, Birney and McCaffrey were arrested by police investigating the alleged  theft of documents from the Police Ombudsman’s Office in Belfast. They faced dawn raids  on their homes and offices by dozens of armed police officers, who seized journalistic  equipment and materials including computers, phones, cameras, memory cards, cassettes,  and thousands of documents in hard copy -along with terabytes of electronic data. Birney  and McCaffrey were detained and questioned for approximately 14 hours, then released on  bail.

The documents sought by police were source materials for Birney and McCaffrey’s  Emmy-nominated 2017 documentary film ‘No Stone Unturned’. The film investigated the  Loughinisland massacre of 1994, revealing the names of the alleged suspects for the first  time, and exploring alleged failings in the police investigation and possible state collusion.

On 8 November 2018, the Police Ombudsman’s Office stated that although the film had  shown extracts from what appeared to be a Police Ombudsman document, albeit in a  different format, they had not made a complaint of theft -the supposed basis for the criminal  investigation, which nonetheless proceeded.

In a subsequent judicial review, on 29 May 2019 the Belfast High Court quashed the  warrants, calling them “inappropriate” and finding them a breach of Article 10 of the  European Convention on Human Rights. The court accepted the public interest value of the  documentary, and found Birney and McCaffrey to be “serious journalists conducting serious  work”. The judges ordered the return of all material seized.

On 3 June 2019, it was confirmed that the criminal investigation by the PSNI and Durham  Constabulary into Birney and McCaffrey had been dropped -finally ending the bail  restrictions that had been imposed on them for nine months.

The seized journalistic equipment was then returned, along with all hard data, but the  question of electronic data remains an active matter before the court -both in terms of the  legality of what was seized, as well as how the data can sufficiently be deleted from police  servers, a process which could cost millions in public funds. Police have suggested they would have to keep the data, but delete it after 10 years -a staggeringly insufficient measure  considering they never should have had access to much of the data.

Birney and McCaffrey reported that 87.5 percent of the data seized was outside of the scope  of the warrant, and their lawyer Niall Murphy noted that although he had received an interim  injunction at 6 pm on the evening of the raid, police remained on the premises of the Fine  Point Films office downloading data until after 9 pm. Birney and McCaffrey believe that the  data seized has led to the compromise of hundreds of journalistic sources.

A court hearing on the matter was scheduled for 27 March, but has since been postponed,  and it remains unclear when it can be rescheduled in light of the Coronavirus lockdown. A  full judgment in the judicial review is expected later this year and will include new guidelines  designed to ensure police are not awarded warrants against journalists without going  through a much more rigorous legal process.

To date, in sharp contrast to the vast police resources dedicated to pursuing Birney and  McCaffrey, no one has been brought to justice for the Loughinisland killings, and the alleged  police failings examined in the film have not been investigated.

Recommendations
RSF has developed a series of recommendations to the UK authorities to address the  serious issues outlined in this report, in accordance with the UK’s obligations to protect and  respect freedom of expression, under national and international law.

If the UK government is serious about its stated priority commitment to championing media  freedom globally -including as co-founder and co-chair of the nascent Media Freedom  Coalition -it must also address these pressing domestic concerns without further delay.

Safety of journalists
.  Ensure without further delay the establishment of a National Committee for the Safety  of Journalists -as announced by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport  (DCMS) in July 2019 -and include a specific focus on Northern Ireland, including a  subsection within the National Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists.  As noted by the DCMS, and in line with the OSCE’s recommendations, the  Committee should gather “representatives of the prosecutor’s office, the police and  journalist associations”, and “verify that all attacks and threats are properly  investigated, improve procedures if needed; propose protection measures when  necessary and implement preventive action to reinforce the security of journalists”.

.  Ensure that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is equipped to adequately  respond to issues affecting the safety of journalists.  
 -Provide training to PSNI focussing on the threats journalists face in the course  of their work, including while covering court hearings, parades and marches,  cases of online harassment (particularly against women journalists), and the  protections that should be provided in those instances.
-When there are threats made to a journalist’s life, ensure they are provided  with sufficient information to adequately protect themselves without having to  carry out their own, potentially dangerous, secondary investigations.

.  Establish a Safety of Journalists liaison officer within the PSNI to track threats and  attacks against journalists and coordinate responses to these threats.  

.  Provide safety training to journalists covering security issues, including organised  crime and paramilitary activities, and informing them of the protections available  should they experience threats, harassments or attacks in the course of their work.  Legal environment

.  Respect the rights of journalists to investigate and report on issues of public interest,  and to protect source confidentiality.  

.  Ensure the legal application of search warrants, such that the mass seizure of  journalists’ data is not used as a de facto threat against investigative journalists and  whistleblowers, intended to have a chilling effect on public interest reporting.  Collaboration between the UK and the Republic of Ireland

.  Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis should prioritise the safety of  journalists and media freedom, and begin discussion with the administration from the  Republic of Ireland addressing all-Island approaches to ensuring media freedom and  safety of journalists, particularly where cross-border threats exist.

Notes
* The UK was ranked 33rd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom  Index; the 2020 World Press Freedom Index will be released on 21 April.

RSF honoured Lyra McKee at the War Reporters Memorial in Bayeux, in northern  France, in October 2019, at a ceremony to pay tribute to journalists killed over the  past year.  . 

>Local comment

Name: Remember me
E-mail: (optional)
Captcha

back to main headlines

    
Advanced Site Search

within   using

Latest Items

   
Newsmedianews ads


RANDOM POLL
[poll topic refreshes on page load]

Advanced Poll
UK prison overcrowding - what can we do?
We need more prison places 93.8%
We should look for alternative solutions 6.2%

Total votes: 65


 
More polls




Direct Input Archives

Direct Input Headlines
At Least 32% of U.S. Mass Shooters Trained to Shoot by U.S. Military - 10 May 2023 filed by the editor - General, Features, International, United States


Archives


World's End, Black Mountains, Wales


Google

Web 

this site

 

Newsmedianews ads

 

 


news resources
Afghanistan | Africa | Albania | Algeria | Andorra | Angola | Anguilla | Antigua
| Argentina | Armenia | Aruba | Asia | Australia | Austria | Azerbaijan | Bahamas | Bahrain | Balkans | Bangladesh | Barbados | Belarus | Belgium | Belize | Benin | Bermuda | Bhutan | Bosnia | Bolivia | Botswana | Brazil | Brunei | Bulgaria | Burkina | Burma | Burundi | Cambodia | Cameroon | Canada | Cape Verde | Caribbean | Cayman Islands | Cen African Rep | Chad | Chile | China | Christmas Island | Columbia | Comoros | Congo | Cook Island | Costa Rica | Croatia | Cuba | Cyprus | Czech/Slovakia | Denmark | Djibouti | Dominican Republic | Dubai | East Timor | Ecuador | Egypt | El Salvador | Equatorial Guinea | Eritrea | Estonia | Ethiopia | Europe | Faroe Islands | Fiji | Finland | France | Gabon | Gambia | Georgia | Germany | Ghana | Greece | Greenland | Grenada | Guadeloupe | Guam | Guatemala | Guinea | Guyana | Haiti | Holland | Honduras | Hong Kong | Hungary | Iceland | India | Indonesia | Iran | Iraq | Ireland | Israel | Italy | Ivory Coast | Jamaica | Japan | Jordan | Kazakhstan | Kenya | Kiribati | Korea | Kuwait | Kyrgyzstan | Laos | Latvia | Lebanon | Lesotho | Liberia | Libya | Lietchtenstein | Lithuania | London | Luxembourg | Macau | Macedonia | Madagascar | Malawi | Malaysia | Maldives | Mali | Malta | Marshall Islands | Martinique | Mauritania | Mauritius | Mexico | Micronesia | Moldova | Monaco | Mongolia | Montenegro | Montserrat | Morocco | Mozambique | Namibia | Nauru | New Zealand | Nicaragua | Niue | Niger | Nigeria | Northern Ireland | Norway | Oman | Pakistan | Palau | Palestine | Panama | Paraguay | Peru | Philippines | Pitcairn Islands | Poland | Portugal | Qatar | Romania | Russia | Rwanda | Samoa | San Marino | Sao Tomé | Saudi Arabia | Scandinavia | Senegal | Serbia | Seychelles | Sierra Leone | Singapore | Slovakia | Slovenia | Solomon Islands | Somalia | South Africa | South Americas | Spain | Sri Lanka | St Kitts | St Lucia | St Pierre | St Vincent | Sudan | Suriname | Swaziliand | Sweden | Switzerland | Syria | Taiwan | Tajikistan | Tanzania | Thailand | Tibet | Togo | Tonga | Trinidad | Tunisia | Turkey | Turkmenistan | Turks & Caicos | Tuvalu | Uganda | Ukraine | United Kingdom | United States | Uruguay | Uzbekistan | Vanuatu | Venezuela | Vietnam | Virgin Islands | Walli & Futuna | Yemen | Zambia | Zimbabwe | World
Human Rights | Science | Journalism | Music | Showbiz | Sport | Technology
Clickable News Globe


Top | Privacy | Forum | Comment XML news feed directory MP3 Sounds | Links | Publicity | Contact
On-line Editing | Publish news | Guestbook | Site Status | Site Map
publish an item from this page to Newsvive.com Seed Newsvine
© Newsmedianews

Web newsmedianews

See traffic details for this site