Naomi Long

A new 106-page report from Amnesty International features interviews with reporters who have been told they will be shot or stabbed, threatened with bombs under their car and given 48-hour ultimatums to leave the country because of their journalism. 

The human rights organisation says its research for the report uncovered more than 70 incidents of threats or attacks on journalists in Northern Ireland since the start of 2019.

Most threats come from a range of proscribed paramilitary groups, loyalist and republican, as well as from armed organised crime groups, some with links to paramilitaries.

Most threats against journalists go unpunished. There have been no prosecutions for any threats from paramilitary groups.

Reporters interviewed by Amnesty said that they feel the PSNI has failed to effectively investigate attacks and threats against them.

Since June 2022, there have been only two successful prosecutions for threats against journalists. There have been no prosecutions for threats from paramilitary groups, the single most significant source of such threats. 

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty’s Northern Ireland director, said: “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.

“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.

“Yet there has not been a single prosecution for threats against journalists from paramilitary groups. This sense of impunity only emboldens those behind the threats. 

“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.”

Amnesty has called on Naomi Long to establish and chair a new media safety group, with representatives from the PSNI, Public Prosecution Service (PPS), media organisations and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), to deliver a new journalist safety strategy.

The report also calls on the PSNI to review its procedural response to threats and attacks against journalists and conduct investigations capable of leading to successful prosecutions, and to produce new guidance and training for officers on the protection of journalists during public disorder.

The Northern Ireland Office and Department of Justice should ensure at-risk journalists can access a home protection scheme funding the installation of security measures, it adds.

Finally, it reiterates Amnesty’s long-standing call for the UK government to establish an independent public inquiry into the 2001 murder of Martin O’Hagan if the expected Police Ombudsman’s investigation finds serious failings or wrongdoing by the police.

The Department of Justice has been approached for comment.