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TWO JOURNALISTS IN Northern Ireland have received death threats from loyalists paramilitaries.
Politicians have been urged to speak out against those responsible for the threat against the reporters, who have not been identified, and the National Union of Journalists has called for the threats to be withdrawn immediately.
“Threats such as these cannot be tolerated,” said Barry McCall, the president of the NUJ said. “Journalists in Northern Ireland have a proud record of refusing to be intimidated by such threats but they should not be subject to them in the first place.”
Michelle Stanistreet of the NUJ said that anyone making threats against journalists for carrying out their work “attempts to undermine democracy as well as press freedom”.
“Threats against journalists from any quarter must stop,” she said.
The union said those responsible for issuing the threats should withdraw them immediately, and called on public representatives representing the groups to issue a statement to that effect.
There have been a number of threats to journalists in Northern Ireland over the past year. In January, the PSNI intercepted a letter containing a bullet addressed to a Belfast-based journalist who had been reporting on loyalist rioting in the wake of the Union flags protests.
Separately, the UDA denied it had been involved in death threats sent to a journalist in Belfast last year after the reporter was named in graffiti along with his mobile phone number in a number of locations which, the NUJ said, was designed to intimidate.
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Why, when the groups are pro-British terrorists, the Irish media refer to them as “paramilitaries”?
allthough illegal colonial sectarian death squads and state supported terrorist groups is what they are, usually called paramilitary group whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state’s formal armed forces.
Under the Law of Armed Conflict, a state may incorporate a paramilitary organization or armed agency charged with police functions into its armed forces. state terror is paramilitary
Aren’t the boy scouts a paramilitary organisation that used to pledge loyalty to the Queen (in the UK). I have to admit I was always a bit dubious that the whole ‘Bob a job’ thing was a money laundering operation for illicit arms purchases.
I thing ‘thug’, ‘criminal’, ‘violent sectarian’ or any number of descriptions would be more useful than paramilitary,
Paddy Lyons will now try to somehow link this to Republicans.
I could be wrong but I think Paddy got his p45 from here last week.
S*** are s***, they’re all as bad as each other, Loyalist terrorist/Republican terrorist same s*** different colours! There nothing military about them either they are just thugs and criminals.
Said Ed Appleby the M15 agent!
Ed, i must ask, do you know Paddy Lyons?
When was the last time Journalists reporting news, got death threats from republicans?
UVF, UFF trained by British Intelligence and M15 shipped arms to them from South Africa. Ed do you remember the Dublin and Monaghan bombings carried out by Loyalist but those bombings were planned and supervised by British Intelligence M15. You failed to mention M15 in your rush to include “republicans” on your list of terrorists Ed Appleby , why?
Ed appleby is patrick lyons
It shouldn’t bother people that Ed says all terrorists regardless of the type are bad. Unless one has a sectarian/ultra nationalistic mentality which makes them unable to condemn their “own” when Catholics plant bombs under school buses, hotels, massacre people simply because they are Protestant, and bomb tourist sites in London.
SC*M
Why hide their identities? The threats been made.
Remember the sunday scvm (world) turning it’s back on their journalist who was murdered by the brits, sean o hagan.
I Think you mean Martin O’ Hagan.
thanks graham,
martin o hagan, the sunday scvm never bleats on about him for some reason.
I’m sure this is nothing new for journalists. And especially for ones working in the north
No fear of it happening here so. We just get gov PR and stupid add of RTE pretending they generated the license tax money out of tin air and its great for the encommy
Haa haa … i saw the new RTE advert last night too…. i laughed out loud. ‘For every euro you, the tax payer, pay in license fees, RTE puts two euro back in the economy’.
Like WTF?
I like TV3′s effort more… no license fee, and they put 3 euro back in the economy, because they do not pay their presenters anywhere near as much as the Tax-payer funded, Government supporting RTE.
not justifying any threats but some journalists are sc@&bags who go to all lenghts to get a story whether it be fact or fiction ie notw
I don’t care what group it is, an honest journalist is doing his job trying to bring a true story to the public. To impede that work through threat of violence (or for that matter legal thuggery like injunctions) is despicable and wrong.
Antoin,
the thing is……………….honest journalists are very hard to come by. Most journalists do not bring “truth” to the public.
They give us their side of a story which unsurprisingly tends to be very similar to what the state/gardai is saying.
Depends what the journalist did. If a journalist was camped outside your family home, surely u wouldnt stand for it.
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