In 2010, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie sued the News of the World. That now-defunct newspaper printed allegations that the pair were planning to split up and had visited divorce lawyers. Pitt and Jolie won the case and were awarded undisclosed damages.
This may seem a little ironic, given that Brad and Angelina announced the other day that they were getting divorced. However, the law is strict in these matters: if you accuse someone of something, you’d better have evidence, not just vague suspicions or or an Everybody-Knows line of argument.
Last night the BBC’s Spotlight featured an anonymous state agent who accused Gerry Adams of having sanctioned the killing of Denis Donaldson, who had been exposed as a long-time informer within Sinn Féin. Solicitors for Gerry Adams have denied the claims.
Are there any parallels/differences between these two cases? Obviously. One involved a marital split between a famous couple, the other the killing of a man. In other words, one charge was much less serious than the other. There’s also the fact that Pitt and Jolie knew who their accuser was: it was the News of the World. Adams doesn’t have that luxury – the identity and even voice of the accuser was kept strictly hidden. Presumably when Pitt and Jolie received damages from the News of the World, that was because the NOW couldn’t furnish proof that their accusation was true. The informer who has declared Gerry Adams to blame for the death of Donaldson doesn’t appear to have any evidence either, other than his assertion.
I think we could safely bet the house that the PSNI also don’t have evidence that Gerry Adams sanctioned the killing ; if they had, it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t have acted. Yet an anonymous source without evidence to support his claim is given prime time on the BBC to deliver his charge.
You may insist, if you are a political opponent of Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams, that Everybody-Knows that Gerry Adams sanctioned Donaldson’s death. But that attitude wasn’t good enough for the court that heard the Pitt-Jolie case: Everybody-Knows is another way of saying “I have no evidence”.
Why then did the BBC give a much-publicized platform to an anonymous figure making serious allegations against Adams with no supporting evidence?
If you have to ask that last question, you clearly haven’t been paying attention over the past five to ten years.
Ohh this is exciting……. it means we are in the window for an election!
Compare the way which alllegations from an anonymous source were handled and what I have just been listening to on the Nolan show.Every few minutes this morning, Adams has been accused of sanctioning murder on news bulletins.However that oaf Nolan went ballistic when a Holyland resident named an SDLP councillor as being a major landlord of those students who are causing mayhem in the area where she lives.
“Compare the way which alllegations from an anonymous source were handled and what I have just been listening to on the Nolan show.Every few minutes this morning, Adams has been accused of sanctioning murder on news bulletins.However that oaf Nolan went ballistic when a Holyland resident named an SDLP councillor as being a major landlord of those students who are causing mayhem in the area where she lives.”
Presumably because the BBC is nervous about a possible defamation suit from the SDLP councillor but knows Adams wouldn’t dare sue for defamation.
“but knows Adams wouldn’t dare sue for defamation.”
He has already threatened to sue the BBC MT and is consulting his legal team. Adams has got apologies from the media before for lies and inaccurate reporting.
“He has already threatened to sue the BBC MT and is consulting his legal team. Adams has got apologies from the media before for lies and inaccurate reporting”
Hahahahahaha
You’re so naive.
Adams threatens to sue media organisations as often as he cleans his teeth. I would personally love to see Adams dare sue for defamation wonder what sort of interesting things would leak out.
Last night’s spotlight was nothing short of comical. Tommy Gorman on RTE radio 1 this morning described it as ” a strong programme” !
What unsubstantiated piece of hearsay did Tommy find strong ? Maybe it was the sinister background music that swayed Tommy…
Could’nt believe those allegations were given airtime myself Jude. The “inforner” making the allegations could just as well have been the director of MI5 or MI6.
What was even more gut wrenching in a pass the sick bucket type of way was Raymond Whites contribution to the “documentary”/churnalism.
This paragon of virtue was telling all and sundry that the RUC special Branch “were doing what cops do” in rooting out the baddies.
Unlike last nights programme there is plenty of evidence to attest to the fact that there was significant collusion between Special Branch who he was operationally responsible for and Loyalist/British Army death squads such as the MRF.
Ironic given the recent publication of Ian Cobains “The History Thieves” in which John Stevens alleges that it was RUC Special Branch/MRF who set fire to the evidence contained at Seapark Carrickfergus which proved Brian Nelsons role in a host of murders but particularly those of Pat Finucane and Loughlin Maginn.
Maybe a “documentary” with the supporting evidence of Raymond Whites role in covering up Special Branch’s nefarious “activities”would be a more substantial offering from the Biased Broadcasting Corp.
I’ll not be holding my breath though.
In his book Ian Cobain states that Seapark, was home to forensic science laboratories, exhibit stores, a suite of offices and no end of confidential archives. It was one of the most secure policing facilities in the world. When the fire broke out, fire alarms did not work, heat-sensitive intruder alarms did not work and the telephone system did not work. The Special Branch did however, work with Mr Hogg proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that some officers remain part of the problem, not part of the solution to the conflict.
It was exciting
We had all the usual suspects Adams ,Storey ,Slab and the infamous South Armagh Brigade .
Men meeting in shadowy places ,clandestine phone calls ,follow the man with the paper turn left etc etc
Can’t wait till next weeks episode or even the box set
Also interesting was the amount of airtime and credibility the programme gave to the xspecial branch guy’s narrative – we defeated the Provos; they had no other route but the political one.
And Alan Mc Clelland’s narrative where he was the hero at the centre of his story about Stormontgate – a hero who forgot that the PSNI search force were uniformed and he didn’t even try to explain how 20 odd land rovers were sent to search one office. He was so busy with traffic offences and domestic disputes, presumably when “he took his eye off the ball?”
The search across America for the Castlereagh Chef was another red herring. He had been recruited by Donaldson? No proof offered. Hearsay again.
Ms. O Leary spent most of the programme walking in darkened places; she threw no substantial light on anything – except her ability to again spin the same old, same old.
Why does she expect us to take the word of a man who admitted that he spent his time betraying for money?
I was surprised that Dennis Bradley appeared to add gravitas to another tired spin that does nothing to move peace forward.
The proximity of Dennis Bradley to a camera is never surprising. It is unlikely that he was given full details of the programme’s content.
More fool hom
John
What are you implying about Denis Bradley? I had never considered him an attention seeker in media terms but perhaps you know better!
I think they are suggesting Denis didn’t have the full story on what the programme he was appearing in was fully about.
Spotlight have been accused of misleading participants before
Not for the first time either, weren’t the beeb hauled through the coals for their allegations surrounding a certain celeb in Britain? you think a lesson would have been learned about having evidence before reporting, but it seems when it comes to Sinn Fein, anything goes.
Whatever happened to them ‘dogs in the street’? Have the poor mutts been put down?
I am no lover of SF but the Spotlight show was a conspiracy theory to be proud of for the makers of it. It really is getting farcical ‘operation get gerry’. Jabba the hut should ‘do what cops do’ and reveal all he knows about the Omagh bombing.
Thank allah I refuse to pay the t.v license. There’s no way I wanna fund state terrorists and their ilk.
On the analogy of the Pitt/Jolie case,presumably Mr Adams solicitors will shortly be issuing proceedings against the B B C.In the interim,no doubt you will be no longer taking part in any B B C shows to register your outrage at the Spotlight programme.
Ha haaaa – very witty, Argenta. I promise you I wasn’t in the least outraged by the programme. Just wanted to point out a few elementary features, like anonymous accuser and absence of evidence. Apart from that, I chortled my way through it
Who needs evidence when the modus operandi seems to be: ‘Anything you say will be taken down and misused in evidence against you’?
Angelina and Brad: how long will it take Brad to realise her departing declaration may turn out to be the best day of his life?
Having had a tangential brush with the characters in both breaking stories, Esteemed Blotgmeister, one cocked one’s ear at a slightly more alert angle than the norm.
Tangential (a daarlin word, Joxer) is probably pushing it, indeed: next door to non-existent is probably nearer the mark.
Early in 2015, one happened to spot this couple standing on a street corner, obviously asking directions of a local. What caught one’s attention were the unseasonable clothes the pair were wearing – long coats in warm weather. It wasn’t till one glanced at their faces that one realized it was (gasp) A. Jolie and B. Pitt.
Maybe the coats were an indication that they were looking as much for notice as for directions. Alas, one was not in a position to enquire of them. As one was a passenger in a passing bus of Malta Public Transport at the time. On later enquiry, one discovered they had just finished making their latest fillum whose location was the neighbouring island of Gozo.
Out of curiosity, one went along to view the movie late in 2015 when it hit the cinemas:
-By the Sea.
If you’re lucky enough not to have seen it, the hint is in the l-word. The Everly Brothers once sweetly sang of ‘So sad to see sweet love go bad’ and these sentiments may even be applicable to the impeding D.I.V.O.R.C.E. of Party A. and Party B.
Now 400 million squids is the quoted sum which the diverging couple will have to divvy up between them. How come they were able to accumulate such a sum? If there is dosh to be made from such tosh as ‘By the Sea’, little wonder they are awash in the green stuff.
In the late 1970s while on a hack-like fact finding look around Belfast one was driven from the Sinn Fein office on the Falls Road to a Republican club in the Short Strand and later, back again. The driver was Denis Donaldson whom one recalls as a chatty and chirpy kind of chap.
When he was assassinated in a remote cottage in the hills of Donegal in 2006 one, again out of curiosity, decided to visit the site. Being in that Ulster county at the time, some weeks later. To one’s surprise one found the cottage to have already lost its crime-scene status.
To the extent that one was not only able to pass through the open gate but having knocked on the door to no effect, to be able to rest one’s hands on the sills and peer in through the windows. Being incurably of the nature, nosey.
( In the wake of last night’s Spotlight Programme, one is on one’s knees praying one did not leave,while prying, any fingerprints on said window sills or – Goddess forbid ! – deposit a DNA-freighted gollier on the surrounding ground. Gollier being Dubspeak for expectoration).
You will scarcely be surprised to hear, EB, that the DOBland media have been banqueting out on the Spotlight programme, big time. To such an extent indeed that they make Balzhassar’s Feast seem like a take away.
From the Public Sector RTE (The Woodman and Tomm.ie Gorman on Yawning Ireland to Sean O’Rourke on Today with Sean O Rourke, ne Today with Pat Kenny all the way across to their deadly rivals from the Private Sector on Newstalk , Pat Kenny on the Pat Kenny Show.
One ought to mention, in passing, of course, that Sean O Rourke’s spouse, Caroline Murphy, was also namechecking the same Spotlight programme with her distinctive knell-like tones on her cosy liitle number, What it Says in the Paper.
Now, the hind-boggling aspect of this vast and various range of coverages was the curious manner in which one aspect (at least) chimed, one with the other : the groveling de rigeur genuflecting in the direction of the station responsible for the programme:
-The BBC.
Awe-struck plaudits were tossed from RTE and Newstalk fm laike : ‘the most admired station in these islands’; ‘a BBC programme with a rock-solid reputation’; ‘beyond reproach’; ‘the highest professional standards in broadcasting ‘ etc etc. That sorta thingy.
Hmmmm.
Can this possibly be the same BBC which – RC Hierarchy -like – ( to quote terminology treasured by the rivals RTE and Newstalk fm alike ) – harboured such admired broadcasters of such rock-solid reputations beyond reproach as, erm, J. Saville and Rolf Harris ? Not to mention other lesser beings above the law who struggled with a certain problem involving the tying down of their, erm, kangaroos.
To conclude: it has been indeed a week of weeks for the patriarchal Pat Kenny,. Not only was he awarded a (gulp) Lifetime Achievement Award by some Shadowy Outfit called Such and Such Inc (tiocfaidh a L.A.A. ?) but he manifested exactly why he is regarded as moribund in so many quarters, and therefore, fully deserving in the great media honour bestowed upon him.
On successive days he got to put his Golden Boot into, respectively the twin targets of the GAA and GA.
His prodigious professionalism was in evidence by his choice of disinterested guest to dissect the Spotlight programme:
-Doug Beattie , UUP MEP for Upper Bann.
According to the FGI (the G stands, incidentally, for Google) Dough Beattie won the Military Cross. This was seemingly for Bravery Beyond the Call of Duty in, erm, Afghanistan. This was always on the cards. As again, to quote, the FGI:
-At the age of 15 he accidentally shot a friend when the two of them discovered Beattie Snr’s personal protection revolver and were playing with it. Although shot in the head his friend recovered.
Eh?
-Shortly after this incident Doug Beatty joined the Royal Irish Rangers.
Eh?
Indeed:
EH ?
And we Southies make a big deal of Kevin Barry’s being just ‘a lad of 18 summers’.
Before dealing with GA, it was the GAA who got dealt with (forensically) by Pat the Professional. Clearly convinced that the GAA stands for (not just for the National Anthem) ‘Gaelic Athletic Association’ but rather that hackneyed old acronym so beloved of such,erm, comediennes as Mo Po (aka Maureen Potter) of the oh, so long ago:
– Grab All Association.
What most tickled the trout of Pat Kenny’s fancy about the All-Ireland Football Final on Sunday were the 7 minutes extra time, which meant the inevitability of a draw, which in turn resulted in the rain or shine certainty of a replay. In other words, to quote a finger-rubbing PK:
-More money, money, money. All 3 million plus extra.
The modestly remunerated Pat must have been quite spread-eagled by this ginormous amount of moolah. Considering that as recently as 2008, according to the FGI, while still in the employ of RTE, Public Broadcaster Pat was ‘earning’ a mere pittance / Pattance to the tune of (sob) 950, 956 squids.
Pat, of course, was schooled by the Christian Brothers, hence his reasonably tepid view of the Bogball. (His sports of choice as a schoolboy in short pants incidentally, according to an eye-witness, i.e The Perkin, were stamp collecting, train-watching, and – gulp – postal chess).
His big sporting passion nowadays is, of course, the Premier League. Not for sophisticated he the amateur stickfighting of the Premier County. Pogball, rather than Bogball.
In 2012, btw, UCD, his real alma mater, awarded the scandalously under appreciated Pat Kenny an honorary Doctor of Science for (gasp) ‘his exceptional contributions to public service broadcasting’.
The acronym for Doctor of Science, DOS is in no way to be confused with DOSS.
PS Cassandra Warbeck’s direst warning has (gulp) come to pass, Esteeemed Blogmeister. See today’s Reserved Seat in the Letters Page of The Unionist Times – at your peril.
It features (gasp) a brand new production of :
-The Queen and I.
It shows that the brits still have a healthy fear of a republican agenda
I have’n’t seen the Spotlight programme so I can’t comment on its content.
One thing I can say for sure is it will not have changed anyone’s view of Gerry Adams.
Those who consider him responsible for numerous murders, as well as an enabler for child abusers and a liar, will have had their views reinforced.
Those who consider him a courageous leader of brave rebels will hardly be shocked, or even disapproving, over the execution of a spy.
And those who firmly believe Gerry was never in the IRA at all…well they probably are’n’t allowed to watch tv at that time of night.
‘Those who consider him responsible for numerous murders, as well as an enabler for child abusers and a liar, will have had their views reinforced.’
Are you sure you are not talking about winston Churchill, Ted Heath or indeed Anthony lindon Blair?
wolfie
As I say I didn’t see the programme under discussion.
Was it about Churchill Heath or Blair?
Yes Gio, you see what you wanna see; and hear………and of course, as always, it’s what you don’t say that’s most revealing.
wolfie
As usual that is nonsense.
If you want to discuss my views have at it, but what point is there in speculating over what people don’t say?
It’s really just man playing.
I simply suggested that whether they are pro Adams or anti Adams most people will not change their views following this documentary.
So do you agree or disagree.?
“One thing I can say for sure is it will not have changed anyone’s view of Gerry Adams”
How would you know Gio? Exactly, you don’t. You don’t speak for anyone except yourself. I guess this is the attitude Jude is referring to when he said “You may insist, if you are a political opponent of Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams, that Everybody-Knows that Gerry Adams sanctioned Donaldson’s death”. You simply typed the comment you typed because Gerry Adams opposes your political view.
“Those who consider him responsible for numerous murders”
Well those who have evidence that he is responsible for numerous murders should take it to the police. The question must be asked: if they have evidence, then why haven’t they contacted the police? Or, yet again, do those who consider Gerry Adams responsible for numerous murders only saying that because he opposes their political view? I think we all know the answer to that.
“as well as an enabler for child abusers and a liar, will have had their views reinforced”
Sounds more like Westminster to me…..but yet those same people who bash Gerry Adams would declare their devout loyalty to Westminster and want to maintain the North’s link to it even though there’s been a paedophile ring at Westminster going back decades (maybe longer). Westminster has had mass murderers sit within its walls. Again, those who bash Gerry seem to have no issue with that…..indeed many of them would maybe even have voted for Ian Paisley, who was told on 7 different occasions about abuse going on at Kincorra by Orange men but didn’t act…..
If only Hypocrisy was a valuable commodity, the North might actually be economically successful…..
Classic deflection from Ryan condemning the British and Unionists yet forgetting about how Adams turned a blind eye to his brothers activities and yet nobody in the Republican community wishes to talk about it, the question you have to ask is why?
Says a lot about that community perhaps as an intrepid blogger you could do a blog on it you never know the Nolan show could run with it you never know you could do something for the greater good of the Republican community as truth sets you free.
Ryan
How would it have changed anyone’s view?
Those who did not believe him before will hardly believe him on this.
As for his supporters I am only guessing, but I wonder if they found that he had indeed given the order for Donaldson would their opinion of him change?
Would it change your opinion of him and if so how?
“You may insist, if you are a political opponent of Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams, that Everybody-Knows that Gerry Adams sanctioned Donaldson’s death”
The same people who would insist that would also insist on a lot of other things, despite it being incorrect or knowing full well its down right lies. Like, for example, insisting that the soldiers who committed Bloody Sunday were fired upon. That’s a lie. 14 innocent people protesting against internment without trial were murdered. What a lot of people forget is that another 14 were shot/injured but survived and all said the paras opened fire on them for nothing. An Italian journalist even said the paras fired first. A French journalist reporting on the march (who I believe was one of those shot) also said the same. Not to mention crowds of other people said that too. But yet still, there are those people who would still insist and even preach that the paras were shot at despite overwhelming evidence and the British Government even apologizing. These same people would also insist Gerry Adams was behind Donaldson’s death despite having no evidence at all.
It appears their logic is: “Guilty until proven Innocent……but still Guilty if you oppose my politics”. Hence why these same people were such eager supporters of Internment without Trial at the time and were the first to demand it……against Catholic people only, of course…..
“Why then did the BBC give a much-publicized platform to an anonymous figure making serious allegations against Adams with no supporting evidence?”
The British Brainwashing Corporation is a tool of the Westminster Government. They spread propaganda and lies on a daily basis, depending on their agenda. In the past few weeks I wrote of how they try to influence peoples thinking in reference to the Northern Ireland soccer team or peoples outlook on Irish Unity. Our very own Jude has been the target of people who phoned in and insulted him because he mentioned facts that opposed the line the BBC is churning out. I don’t know which is worse: the BBC or RTE?…..that’s a hard one, that is…..
If I was Gerry Adams I would ask for legal advice and see if there was grounds to sue the BBC. Its bad enough being accused of divorcing your partner but to be accused of being involved in murder?……
“If I was Gerry Adams I would ask for legal advice and see if there was grounds to sue the BBC. Its bad enough being accused of divorcing your partner but to be accused of being involved in murder?…”
LOL. If you were Gerry Adams you most definitely wouldn’t be considering suing the BBC.
LOL. If you were Gerry Adams you most definitely wouldn’t be considering suing the BBC.
MT nails it completely.
Only well got figures of the establishment successfully sue the BBC. Such as Lord mcAlpine. And if you are as well got as mcAlpine you’ll be rewarded very handsomely for taking one for team establishment, well rewarded indeed…..and in record time to boot.
In reply to the post i have picked out some salient points
the BBC is ‘the most admired station in these islands’; ‘a BBC programme with a rock-solid reputation’; ‘beyond reproach’; ‘the highest professional standards in broadcasting ‘ etc etc.
That’s the result of years and years of self-proclaimed independence and impartiality
“Why then did the BBC give a much-publicized platform to an anonymous figure making serious allegations against Adams with no supporting evidence?
“we defeated the Provos; they had no other route but the political one”.
The “inforner” making the allegations could just as well have been the director of MI5 or MI6″.
The BBC does what it says on the tin – it is an “arm of the state” and it’s function is to enhance understanding of, and sympathy for, the UK.
So what was the purpose of the programme? to cast mud on gerry Adams and SF.
Why now? What was it distracting attention from?
Brexit ? The risk of a Uk break-up as N ireIand and scotland voted Remain in the EU?
The risk of a soft Unionist+ nationalist/republican alliance in voting Remain? (need to nip that in the bud, sharpish!!!)
An upcoming election as someone suggested?
Any and all of the above?
https://eurofree3.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/the-true-story-of-and-media-bias/
Isn’t it remarkable that there’s no tradition of silencing Misinfrormants/Misinformers in Ireland?
Poor Richard Piggott had to do the job himself
Couldn’t make it up. A former IRA member and a former Sinn Féin member called “Martin” is a British agent. Of all the names in the world the BBC pick that one. Clowns. Thank God I never had a TV license.
From Ed Moloney
Is British Intelligence Moving Against Gerry Adams?
I have no idea whether the story below – an Irish Times summary of a BBC Spotlight programme broadcast Tuesday night – is true. But here is what is significant, in my view, about it.
The programme would have been vetted before broadcast by the BBC’s lawyers and it would probably have gone to London for final approval. That was always the way when the bombs and guns were in play and it probably still is the way things are done.
BBC lawyers are, almost by definition, very cautious beings. Put it this way, when Richard O’Rawe went to BBC’s Spotlight back in 2006 with his story about how Gerry Adams had vetoed a deal to end the 1981 hunger strike it was very quickly killed off.
But here you now have the very same programme, headed by the same people, giving the green light to a documentary which, libel-wise, puts O’Rawe’s story in the ha’penny place.
That tells me that the BBC’s lawyers were convinced a) that the supposed British agent known only as ‘Martin’ was the real deal and b) that no-one in the British intelligence establishment moved to kill off the story, which as anyone who has worked in the BBC can attest, they could easily do.
Which suggests that the Spotlight story is seeing the light of day because a) the BBC believes it to be true and b) no-one in the British establishment objected to it being broadcast. Which leads to the conclusion that the higher-up’s in British intelligence not only had no objection to it being broadcast but may even have wished to see it aired.
Which, if true, is bad news for the Sinn Fein leader and his plans to bow out of his party’s leadership by way of a term of office in the Phoenix Park and the respectability such a conclusion to his career would bestow.
Incidentally, for what it is worth, the idea that ‘Slab’ Murphy would insist on Denis Donaldson’s execution as fitting punishment for his treachery is entirely credible. Given that Freddie Scappaticci had been given a bye ball for much worse, a second blind eye turned to blatant, longstanding double-dealing would only intensify grassroots unease.
I’m assuming this is Ed Moloney’s piece, MT? Is it taken from somewhere else or did you receive it directly?
Sorry Jude I should have given the source. It’s from the Broken Elbow.
Jude – I think you are right. Gerry has to sue because he clearly has nothing to hide! He should also sue regarding allegations about McConville, IRA membership and covering up for his paedo rapist brother. Once he has his day in court, everyone will see that he is just a rubber duck brandishing, hirsute, peacenik whose only misdemeanor was not taking advantage of NHS orthodontics at an early age so as not to appear a dental souper and stay true to his Irish Republican values.
Gerry Adams has a secret plan to blow up the sun and destroy the inner solar system.
I have proof, but I can’t tell you what it is.