His Excellency
Tony Blair
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
UK

Vienna, 10 September 1999

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI) is deeply concerned over the threat by a British court to jail Dublin-based reporter Ed Moloney unless he breaks rules of professional secrecy.

Moloney, Northern Ireland editor of the Sunday Tribune in Dublin, faces jail under the UK Prevention of Terrorism Act if he does not hand over his original notes of an interview made in 1989 with William Stobie, a member of an illegal Protestant paramilitary group, who has been charged with the murder of a Catholic lawyer, Pat Finucane, ten years ago. Behind the case are allegations of collusion between loyalist paramilitary groups and Northern Ireland police over the murder.

On 2 September 1999, a court in Belfast, Northern Ireland, gave Moloney seven days to hand over his notes to police officers investigating Finucane’s killing. Moloney, who vowed not to surrender his notebook, could go to jail for five years, or receive a heavy fine, if he continues to refuse. On 9 September, a stay of order until Tuesday, 14 September, was granted by the court. However, we understand that the judge warned against observers making the assumption that Moloney would automatically be successful in his fight to preserve the journalist’s right to protect confidential sources.

IPI, the global network of editors and media executives, believes that the case against Moloney has serious implications for press freedom. The right to preserve confidentiality of sources is one of the fundamental elements of professional journalism. If this right is not assured, the betrayal of trust involved would mean that the safety of journalists would be endangered and the press would be unable to fulfil its primary function in any democracy, namely that of a watchdog, constantly investigating and exposing abuses of power.

We therefore urge that the order directing Ed Moloney to hand over his notes be dismissed and that Great Britain recognise professional secrecy among journalists, which, according to the European Court of Human Rights, is one of the cornerstones of press freedom.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director