The problem with Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein wanting to 'put manners' on media
Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA.
There, that's that out of the way.
These days it's good practice to get your disclaimer in early.
Especially if you're in the journalism business. Anything else could be construed as bad manners.
And 'manners' is what Gerry's €3 million libel battle with the BBC all boiled down to in his own words.
The case he took in the Dublin High Court 'was about putting manners on the British Broadcasting Corporation' he announced minutes after a jury awarded him €100,000 in damages.
They had agreed that a Spotlight programme had defamed Gerry by alleging he sanctioned the murder of IRA spy Denis Donaldson in 2006, eight years after the Good Friday Agreement had sealed his place among the peacemakers.
Gerry's grandiose reaction to the decision was described as 'chilling' by the National Union of Journalists.
For a man who has dealt in secrets during a lifetime of politics, it was certainly candid.
This was Gerry saying the quiet part out loud. Because as long as the press has been around, there have been those in political power who fantasise about 'putting manners' on it.
Not least the many other members of Sinn Fein who have taken libel actions against the Irish media in recent times, as they are of course entitled to do.
They would also be entitled to ask the Press Ombudsman to adjudicate their grievances instead. It's a process that exists to put manners on journalists without damages or the €3 million tab for lawyers' fees.
Weeks before Gerry's big win at the High Court, Sinn Fein TDs also voted in the Dail against the reform of Ireland's defamation laws.
Their biggest issue was getting rid of juries like the one that gave Gerry a hundred grand last week.
They take the view that a group of lay citizens are best qualified to stand judgement on that most precious of things to the Irish – our reputation.
Over the years juries have deemed it to be vastly more valuable in compensation terms than literally losing life or limb.
Sinn Fein believes that people should be summoned from their day jobs as butchers, bakers and candlestick makers, and asked to rule on this wickedly complex area of civil law that divides and defies legal experts.
And be relied upon to not lose the run of themselves when awarding damages.
I've been in the high court before when juries were asked not to lose the run of themselves.
When advised to use the yardstick of a family holiday or a small car to assess damages, they have returned with eye watering six-figures sums. That's quite the family vacation.
But there is a bigger problem I have with Gerry's swagger at sticking it to the BBC and Sinn Fein's general animosity towards the media.
'Putting manners' on the press has become a dark obsession among others who view journalists as 'the enemy of the people'.
And they are willing to use far less legitimate methods than a high court jury to do it.
Last year was the deadliest on record for media workers around the world with over 200 reporters killed, the vast majority in Gaza where the press have become legitimate targets.
In the world's biggest democracy, the American media is bearing the brunt of an authoritarian crackdown.
Respected outlets are banned for refusing to report a warped view of reality sanctioned by the ruling regime.
Handpicked lackies and sycophants are favoured to replace experienced reporters because they ask the right questions.
Amnesty international this week named Northern Ireland – where Sinn Fein leads the Government - as one of the most intimidating places to be a reporter because of threats from crime gangs.
Meanwhile hatemongers attack and intimidate journalists 24 hours a day in the unpoliced laneways of cyber space where they replace news and facts with their own disinformation and conspiracies.
Against that climate, we need political leaders to choose their words and actions carefully when they have a beef with the media.
Politicians whose first instinct is not to join in the 'let's put manners on them' pile-on.
And who remember there are alternatives to multi-million libel lotteries before you march to the High Court behind the battle cry: Tiocfaidh ár Law!
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