The legal battle of a journalist in Northern Ireland who may have to choose between revealing a source and going to prison is one we should all follow closely. Suzanne Breen, the Sunday Tribune’s northern editor, has written a number of stories about the Real IRA – including a report of the group’s claim to be responsible for the murders of two British soldiers outside Massareene Barracks earlier this year.
Now a judge says he is “minded” to ask her to reveal full details of all her dealings with the Real IRA, including notes, computer files and phones in order to help the Police Service of Northern Ireland with their investigation into the killings. Belfast Recorder Tom Burgess has given Ms Breen’s legal team a week to explain why she should not reveal this information. The PNSI will then have a further week to respond before he makes a decision.
At stake is a vital principle of the professional journalist: the protection of a source, no matter how unsavoury. No whistleblower of any sort will come forward with information if they believe there’s a chance the journalist will betray their trust, or somehow end up as an extension of a police investigation.
There are a number of precedents – most notably the fight of another Sunday Trib journalist Ed Moloney to protect his source in 1999, after he was ordered under the Prevention of Terrorism Act to hand over to a court notes of his interview with a UDA man charged with the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. Moloney eventually won his fight in the appeal court.
In Breen’s case, there is a significant additional aspect too. By handing over the information she would would run the very real risk of reprisals from the Real IRA. Her life would undoubtedly be at risk. If she refuses, she could ultimately be sent to prison.
Not every journalist will agree that protection of sources is an unequivocal rule. Freelance Nick Martin-Clarke is on a witness protection scheme for the rest of his life after testifying against a source who had boasted to him about a murder.
Breen, meanwhile, has full support from the NUJ. She should have ours too.
