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Media Confidential
Are UK journalists under state surveillance?
Season 2, Ep. 39
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On 18th June 1994, Catholic pubgoers in Loughinisland, County Down, were watching a World Cup match when a loyalist paramilitary group burst in and murdered six civilians, wounding five others. To this day, no-one has been charged for the crime.
Produced by journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, No Stone Unturned (2017) told the story of the massacre, revealing how the police had colluded in protecting the gunmen.
When the film disclosed anonymous documents identifying the murder suspects, the Northern Irish police service (PSNI) arrested Trevor and Barry—and both of their homes were raided by armed police—to discover the source of the leak.
Last December, a tribunal found that the PSNI and Met police also unlawfully spied on both journalists, long before the film was even produced.
They join Alan and Lionel to tell their extraordinary story, and ask: could other journalists in the UK be under surveillance by the authorities?
To read more about Northern Ireland’s police spying scandal, head to www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/crime-and-justice/68906/northern-irelands-police-spying-scandal
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