Roy Greenslade fallout: journalists ‘can’t be double agents’ for paramilitaries

Greenslade, who previously held senior positions at national newspapers and more recently has lectured in media ethics, has admitted writing material backing the republican movement, while also working for mainstream media publications that were outspoken in their opposition to terrorist violence.

In a British Journalism Review (BJR), Greenslade has revealed how he was a “messenger” who backed the republican cause, and said: “I wanted peace and played a very minor role as a messenger at a crucial moment during the process itself. But I understand why the conflict occurred and do not regret my support for those who fought it. I am pleased at last to come out from hiding and explain myself to everyone”.

The CIoJ said it “unhesitatingly condemns the justification for supporting terrorism by former journalism ethics professor and Daily Mirror editor Roy Greenslade”.

Institute president, Professor Tim Crook said the latest article “has clearly caused distress to civilian, journalist and security force victims and their families of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland.”

Prof Crook said Greenslade’s comments “strike at the very heart of professional values in journalism,” and “undermine respect for the significance of journalistic... transparency and honesty”.

He added: “The violence perpetrated by the Provisional IRA cost the lives of news photographer Ed Henty covering the City of London Bishopsgate truck bomb in 1993 and Daily Express journalist Philip Geddes in the Harrods car bomb of 1983.

“There was nothing accidental about their deaths. They were murdered.”

In his BJR article, Greenslade also stated: “I cannot say for sure when I started to write for the republican paper, An Phoblacht. My contributions, some of them under the George King pseudonym, some unattributed, were irregular.”

Prof Crook went on to say: “We have to emphasise that it is professionally incompatible for any journalist, let alone a national newspaper editor and professor of journalism ethics, to lead a double life of propagandising one side in any armed conflict with a fake identity while at the same time working for news publishers seeking to report on it.

“A journalist cannot and should not be a double-agent for any government or paramilitary group using violence to further their political ends.”

The Guardian has now said it will be “reviewing” historical Roy Greenslade articles concerning Northern Ireland, to ensure they meet its “editorial standards and are sufficiently transparent”.

Asked by Press Gazette whether his views on terrorism disqualified him from teaching ethics, he said: “The furore underlines the main point of my article: to have come clean in the 1970s with my beliefs would have rendered me unemployable.

“I did nothing more than the scores of journalists who keep their political views to themselves. My opinions did not affect my journalistic work, nor did they affect my university teaching”.

READ: Guardian breaks silence over Roy Greenslade’s IRA support

READ: Ex-army colonel: Greenslade ‘insults the memory of police and soldiers’ killed in the Troubles

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