INDYMEDIA.IE THUG THREATENS INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST?? (Reply from 1 editor of many below)

national | miscellaneous | news report

Thursday March 27, 2003 09:52

by Fintan Dunne - http://www.GuluFuture.com

Following censorship of my earlier posts on Indymedia.ie, at 9:55pm tonight March 26th I was threatened in a telephone call by someone claiming message deletion authority on Indymedia.ie that I "better be carefull." Not exactly in the Indymedia spirit is it? http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=304637&group=webcast

INDYMEDIA.IE THUG THREATENS
INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST??

by Fintan Dunne - http://www.GuluFuture.com
Thu, Mar 27 2003, 12:11am

Free Speech Advocate Gets Threatening Phone Call

Following censorship of my earlier posts on Indymedia.ie, at 9:55pm tonight March 26th I was threatened in a telephone call by someone claiming message deletion authority on Indymedia.ie that I "better be carefull."

This is What True Free Speech Looks Like
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=304637&group=webcast

"You better be carefull," said the unidentified voice on the telephone.

What voice? Am I talking about intimidation by some shadowy Government agency.

No, I am takling about a threatening call last night, March 26th 2003 from someone saying
he would delete any of my posts that appeared on Indymedia.ie in the future.

You see earlier last night, I had some of my posts censored on Indymedia.ie and I had comlained about the censorship. In fact there was a debate ongoing in an Indymedia.ie thread between myself and the site operators about the issue of censorship. By the way, there have been previous complaints there by others about the issue of censorship.

Next thing, the Indymedia.ie post about censorship was itself censored. It too had just been deleted by the site operators. Well, that takes the biscuit doesn't it. What chance for free speech if even complaints about censorship are themselves censored. Isn't that what they
complain about the mainstream media doing all the time??

So I posted again, this time protesting about the further censorship.

That's when I got the threatening telephone call to my mobile phone.

"I'm the one who responded to your post on Indymedia." said a voice.

"If I see any more of your posts on Indymedia.ie," said the voice "They'll be deleted straight away."

"You better be carefull" Click.

Nice piece of thuggery eh?

As any investigation has yet to begin, I have no proof yet that threatening call came from Indymedia.ie staff. All I can say is that it came directly after a spirited discussion between myself and the site operators. They deleted that thread post, but I remember two who had responded were someone called Dathai and another called Sparks.

It's a little ironic that one of my most widely read recent articles was:

Pentagon Threatens to Kill Independent Reporters in Iraq
http://www.gulufuture.com/news/kate_adie030310.htm

You see, I am a campaigning Anti-War independent journalist.

Today another of my stories is front page on Guerialla News http://gnn.tv/world_headlines/

US WILL LOOSETHE IRAQ WAR --SCOTT RITTER
http://www.gulufuture.com/news/scott_ritter030325.htm

So what have I done to deserve this from Indymedia.ie??
Complained about their censorship, that's what.

Well, Indymedia.ie I got news for you:

This is What True Free Speech Looks Like!

Try it.

In all my time posting on other indymedia sites worldwide, I have never once been censored.

I am asking the Indymedia collective to disenfranchise the Irish Indymedia site from the international indymedia sites.

Why? Because I consider it a deeper threat to free speech than censorship on mainstream media.

That we expect. What we don't expect or need is censorship on our own independent media.