13 November 1997 Edition
Same old newspaper story
This week a number of journalists have quite deliberately tried to talk up resignations from Sinn Féin and the IRA into a split. Basing their stories on anonymous sources backed up by dubious, unattributed (indeed, mostly unattributable) quotes it is clear that their agenda is to cause confusion among republicans.
There is nothing new in this. Throughout this struggle, the same tactics have been used many times - and usually by the same journalists. It is to the credit of republicans that they are not swayed by this misinformation.
When journalists should be highlighting the real obstacles to peace in Ireland they are mischief-making in the way they have always done. There is a need to decommission mindsets in some of Ireland's newspaper offices.
These stories have appeared when the Ulster Unionists have quite deliberately been stalling the talks at Stormont by refusing to engage with other participants. Alongside that, the British government continues to be wedded to a security agenda. Harassment, informer recruitment and the strengthening of military bases continue unabated. These are the serious issues which threaten the peace process. Those journalists (some of whom claim radical credentials when `off-duty') who peddle spurious IRA split stories would do well to highlight the real dangers to the peace process.
There is nothing new in this. Throughout this struggle, the same tactics have been used many times - and usually by the same journalists. It is to the credit of republicans that they are not swayed by this misinformation.
When journalists should be highlighting the real obstacles to peace in Ireland they are mischief-making in the way they have always done. There is a need to decommission mindsets in some of Ireland's newspaper offices.
These stories have appeared when the Ulster Unionists have quite deliberately been stalling the talks at Stormont by refusing to engage with other participants. Alongside that, the British government continues to be wedded to a security agenda. Harassment, informer recruitment and the strengthening of military bases continue unabated. These are the serious issues which threaten the peace process. Those journalists (some of whom claim radical credentials when `off-duty') who peddle spurious IRA split stories would do well to highlight the real dangers to the peace process.