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Irish Examiner
7 days ago
- General
- Irish Examiner
Northern Ireland journalists face attacks and death threats, says Amnesty report
Journalists in Northern Ireland routinely face attacks and death threats from paramilitary and organised crime groups that act with impunity, according to Amnesty International. Reporters have been physically assaulted and told they will be shot, stabbed, raped or blown up, making Northern Ireland the most dangerous place in the UK for journalism, a report said on Tuesday. It documented more than 70 attacks and threats since 2019 but found there were no prosecutions for threats from paramilitary groups, the most significant source of the intimidation. 'Journalists in Northern Ireland are facing a sustained campaign of threats, intimidation and violence from armed groups, which makes it the most dangerous place in the UK to be a reporter,' said Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International UK's Northern Ireland director. 'They are being threatened, attacked and even killed for shining a light on paramilitary groups and others who seek to exert control through violence. This creates a climate of fear that many assumed was consigned to history when the Good Friday agreement was signed.' The lack of prosecutions has emboldened paramilitaries – loyalist and republican – and fostered a sense of impunity, Corrigan said. 'When journalists are under attack, press freedom is under attack. The state must create a safe environment where journalists can work freely and report without fear of reprisals. It is currently failing to do so.' Journalists' cars have been damaged – in some cases battered with poles laced with nails – and some reporters have been given ultimatums to leave Northern Ireland. Two journalists have been killed, Lyra McKee in 2019 and Martin O'Hagan in 2001. Some of those interviewed for the 96-page report, titled Occupational Hazard? Threats and Violence Against Journalists in Northern Ireland said they had protected their homes with bulletproof windows and doors and alarms linked to police stations. Police visited Allison Morris, the Belfast Telegraph's crime correspondent, nine times between December 2023 and October 2024 to warn about threats from paramilitary or criminal groups. 'I'm convinced someone's going to kill me at some point,' said Morris. 'I always think I'll never die of natural causes. Most of the time, I pretend that the threats don't annoy me, but clearly, they do. This is not a normal way to live.' The report urged the Stormont administration to establish a media safety group, comprising police, prosecutors and journalists and urged the police to review the procedural response to threats and to pursue investigations that lead to successful prosecutions. Ch Supt Sam Donaldson said the Police Service of Northern Ireland took journalism safety seriously and would consider the report and its recommendations. In recent years the PSNI has developed a joint strategy with local editors and the National Union of Journalists, said Donaldson. 'Journalists do not have to tolerate threats and crimes as part of their role. That has been our recent, consistent message.' Seamus Dooley, the NUJ's assistant general secretary, said it was not normal that journalists lived in fear decades after the Troubles, adding: 'That really is not the sign of a normal functioning democracy.' - The Guardian Read More Income gap widened significantly under previous Government, new report finds
The Guardian
7 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Northern Ireland journalists face attacks and death threats, says Amnesty report
Journalists in Northern Ireland routinely face attacks and death threats from paramilitary and organised crime groups that act with impunity, according to Amnesty International. Reporters have been physically assaulted and told they will be shot, stabbed, raped or blown up, making Northern Ireland the most dangerous place in the UK for journalism, a report said on Tuesday. It documented more than 70 attacks and threats since 2019 but found there were no prosecutions for threats from paramilitary groups, the most significant source of the intimidation. 'Journalists in Northern Ireland are facing a sustained campaign of threats, intimidation and violence from armed groups, which makes it the most dangerous place in the UK to be a reporter,' said Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International UK's Northern Ireland director. 'They are being threatened, attacked and even killed for shining a light on paramilitary groups and others who seek to exert control through violence. This creates a climate of fear that many assumed was consigned to history when the Good Friday agreement was signed.' The lack of prosecutions has emboldened paramilitaries – loyalist and republican – and fostered a sense of impunity, Corrigan said. 'When journalists are under attack, press freedom is under attack. The state must create a safe environment where journalists can work freely and report without fear of reprisals. It is currently failing to do so.' Journalists' cars have been damaged – in some cases battered with poles laced with nails – and some reporters have been given ultimatums to leave Northern Ireland. Two journalists have been killed, Lyra McKee in 2019 and Martin O'Hagan in 2001. Some of those interviewed for the 96-page report, titled Occupational Hazard? Threats and Violence Against Journalists in Northern Ireland, said they had protected their homes with bulletproof windows and doors and alarms linked to police stations. Police visited Allison Morris, the Belfast Telegraph's crime correspondent, nine times between December 2023 and October 2024 to warn about threats from paramilitary or criminal groups. 'I'm convinced someone's going to kill me at some point,' said Morris. 'I always think I'll never die of natural causes. Most of the time, I pretend that the threats don't annoy me, but clearly, they do. This is not a normal way to live.' The report urged the Stormont administration to establish a media safety group, comprising police, prosecutors and journalists, and urged the police to review the procedural response to threats and to pursue investigations that lead to successful prosecutions. Ch Supt Sam Donaldson said the Police Service of Northern Ireland took journalism safety seriously and would consider the report and its recommendations. In recent years the PSNI has developed a joint strategy with local editors and the National Union of Journalists, said Donaldson. 'Journalists do not have to tolerate threats and crimes as part of their role. That has been our recent, consistent message.' Seamus Dooley, the NUJ's assistant general secretary, said it was not normal that journalists lived in fear decades after the Troubles, adding: 'That really is not the sign of a normal functioning democracy.'
ITV News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
Race hate attacks in Northern Ireland at highest levels since records began, PSNI report reveals
A new report has shown the highest levels of racist incidents and crimes in Northern Ireland since records began. Records started in 2004 with the levels of race hate incidents hitting a new high in summer 2024. Amnesty International described the past year as a 'year of hate'. The figures - up to March 2025 - were published in a report by the PSNI and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. It reveals there were 1,807 incidents and 1,188 crimes recorded by the police. There were 454 more race incidents and 349 more race hate crimes recorded in the last 12 months than in the previous corresponding period. Six of the eight highest monthly levels of race incidents since records began were recorded between May and October 2024. More than half (635) of recorded race hate crimes in the period were in Belfast. Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International's Northern Ireland Director, said: 'The past year has been a year of hate for victims of racism in Northern Ireland. These figures should serve as a stark wake-up call for the Northern Ireland Executive. 'The Executive's ten-year racial equality strategy has failed. Promises made years ago remain broken, while racism has been allowed to flourish. Last year, race hate crime hit an all-time high – a shameful milestone," he added. 'As the current Racial Equality Strategy nears its expiration at the end of this year, the Executive must deliver more than rhetoric. It must implement a bold, effective action plan to confront and dismantle the toxic prejudice that has taken root across Northern Ireland.' An i ndependent review of the Northern Ireland Executive's Racial Equality Strategy 2015 - 2025, commissioned by the Executive and published in December 2024, found the strategy has been undermined by the lack of an action plan and budget.
