First They Came For Republicans. Then They Came For The Journalists.

Posted by Jim on May 30, 2019

The following is a piece by Saoradh National Executive member Dee Fennell following an interview with BBC Spotlight. 
British Crown Forces have been proven complicit in the mass murder at Loughinisland after they attempted to silence two investigative journalists who exposed collusion between the RUC/PSNI and a Loyalist Death Squad, however there are those in the media who hang on their every press release as gospel and base their journalism on this basis without interrogating or investigating the Crown Force propaganda, Crown Forces are Britain’s hard power in Ireland but there are many manifestations of soft power and a complicit unquestioning media is one of those, in a way they are complicit in the RUC/PSNI attacks on the “freedom of the press” Last week I was interviewed by BBC’s Spotlight for a programme to be broadcast next week. In the course of that interview several serious allegations were made against myself, other Saoradh members and the party in general. This is water off a duck’s back of course, and we are thankful that we made our own full recording of the interview that is at our disposal, and can put any edited comments in their full context should that be required.
However the rationale for much of these allegations was “the police believe”, “the police allege”, “the police have told us”, “the police have made a number of arrests”. The implication being that “the police” are trustworthy and to be believed.
So ahead of that programme and the nonsense it will no doubt churn out, I would like to share this quote from Belfast High Court yesterday where, ironically, two journalistic colleagues of those working on Spotlight took a case against the PSNI/RUC. This was regarding their arrests and PSNI raids on their homes. This was after they exposed those responsible for the Loughinisland Massacre in a critically-acclaimed documentary.
The militiaman responsible for their arrests explained that he did so because those named in the documentary had their lives “put in danger for merely having the misfortune of being involved in terrorist atrocities at whatever level”. It is worth noting that none of those named has been charged, or even arrested as the two journalists have been.
That isn’t “legacy”. That isn’t “the bad old days”. That is yesterday. 2019. And it perfectly demonstrates the bias and attitude of an organisation that still seeks to protect loyalists responsible for sectarian slaughter, rather than assist families seeking the truth.
After this, and recent revelations regarding their Ormeau Road Bookmakers “investigation” and refusal to disclose all information, how can anyone trust anything they say?
Remember that when watching next week’s Spotlight. And have a big pinch of salt handy.