Ex-Guardian editor receives ‘unanimous support’ to remain on Media Commission

By James Ward, PA

The former editor of The Guardian looks set to continue on Ireland’s Future of Media Commission after receiving unanimous backing from its members.

Alan Rusbridger had faced calls to be removed from the role after revelations that his newspaper’s former media editor, Roy Greenslade, was supportive of the IRA.

Mairia Cahill, who has alleged she was sexually abused by an IRA man at the age of 16, had called on the Taoiseach to consider Mr Rusbridger’s position on the commission.

She said the work of the panel would be “tainted” after he received the backing of fellow members on Tuesday.

She wrote on Twitter: “Shame on them. Unfortunately the work of the commission – and their reputation – will be tainted by an editor who knew his journalist wrote for An IRA paper, smearing a rape victim.

“To be clear, the person who did the smearing was Roy Greenslade. The person who allowed him to write the piece – in full knowledge he had written for an IRA paper – was Alan Rusbridger.”

Ms Cahill said it was “appalling” that the decision had been made public through a press release before she heard from the Media Minister, Green Party TD Catherine Martin, on the subject.

Hours earlier, Ms Martin told RTE News at One she was consulting the Taoiseach on the issue.

She said Ms Cahill had “endured horrendous pain and ongoing suffering… amplified by the criticism and judgment” in a Guardian column written by Mr Greenslade.

The 2014 column, which called into question Ms Cahill’s claims that she was raped by an IRA member, has prompted apologies from the newspaper.

Mr Greensdale claimed BBC reporters investigating the story “were too willing to accept Cahill’s story and did not point to countervailing evidence”.

Katherine Viner, who succeeded Mr Rusbridger as Guardian editor in 2015, has apologised to Ms Cahill.

A note has been added to the 2014 piece which reads: “The lack of disclosure was especially unfair to a vulnerable individual, and The Guardian has now apologised to Ms Cahill.”

Writing in The Guardian at the weekend, Mr Rusbridger also apologised to Ms Cahill.

He wrote: “Given what he has now shared, I believe he should have avoided those topics – or, at the very least, have been consistent in letting readers know more about where he was coming from – especially as The Guardian’s own guidelines have long been explicit about declaring interests.

“In particular, Greenslade had criticised transparency in a 2014 piece about a BBC programme on Mairia Cahill’s claim of rape by an alleged IRA member. Given his own lack of transparency, that was, at best, hypocritical.

“The piece spectacularly fails on transparency grounds. Had Greenslade been open with me back in 2014, I would have been able to come to a different judgment about it overall.

“So I am sincerely sorry to Mairia Cahill, both for the article and for the upset it must have caused her. Both The Guardian and Greenslade have also apologised.”

Fine Gael’s leader in the Seanad, Regina Doherty, also called for Mr Rusbridger to go.

She tweeted: “Rusbridger will now be the story of everything the commission tries to do. He should consider his own position and the job of work of the commission and step aside.”

Mr Greenslade recently revealed he had made contributions to the republican newspaper An Phoblacht during the Troubles under the pseudonym George King.

Writing in the British Journalism Review, he confessed to supporting the Republican movement, adding “That is not to say, however, that I was not appalled by the carnage.”

In a statement on Tuesday, the commission said: “The members of the Future of the Media Commission unanimously support the continued membership of Alan Rusbridger on the commission.

“We believe that it was important for Alan and The Guardian to apologise to Mairia Cahill, who has exposed important issues of media standards and transparency. These issues will continue to form part of the commission’s ongoing work.”

The commission was set up by the Government in September to examine the future of the media in Ireland.