BBC report into murder of ‘high public interest’

An Independent Media Consultant has told a court in Dublin he believes a BBC programme which contained an interview alleging Gerry Adams sanctioned Denis Donaldson’s murder was of high public interest.

Mr Adams, 76, is suing the BBC over a 2016 programme about the killing of Denis Donaldson and an accompanying online article.

He denies any involvement.

Speaking at Dublin High Court on Tuesday, Christopher Banatvala who is a former employee of broadcast regulator Ofcom, said it is his view the Spotlight programme was not unfair to the reputation of Mr Adams.

Appearing as a witness for the BBC, Mr Banatvala said in his view that, on balance, given what was already in the public domain about Mr Adams, there was a public interest in the story and the corporation believed it had credible sources.

Mr Banatvala said the Spotlight programme was of “the highest public interest” because the allegation was against an elected politician.

Mr Adams was a TD in Dáil Éireann (lower house of Irish parliament) at the time.

He said he believed if Mr Adams complained to Ofcom, the regulator would have reached the same conclusion that the programme was not “unjust” to Mr Adams.

He also said there was a risk of, what he described as, a “chilling effect” for investigative journalism if allegations like those against Mr Adams were not reported.

However, he stressed that does not allow programme makers to “make irresponsible allegations”.

Asked by a barrister for the BBC if he was saying the programme was not “unfair or unjust” to Mr Adams, Mr Banatvala replied: “That is correct”.

When he was asked if it was also his view that Ofcom would have ruled the online article also did not contravene its regulations, Mr Banatvala again replied: “That is correct”.

When a barrister for Mr Adams asked the witness if he had read the evidence of Mr Adams, he said he didn’t and added: “That wasn’t what I was tasked to do”.

He also said: “I’ve not be able to check all the notes”.

The BBC is contesting the legal action on the basis that it believes the programme and associated online news coverage was fair, balanced, and in the public interest.

It has also said during the jury trial that it is defending its journalism and not the accuracy of the allegation.

Mr Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin’s rise as a political force in Northern Ireland but he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had been a spy.

He was interned without trial for periods in the 1970s.

After the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Féin appointed Mr Donaldson as its key administrator in the party’s Stormont offices.

In 2005, Mr Donaldson confessed he was a spy for British intelligence for two decades, before disappearing from Belfast.

He was found dead in a small, run down cottage in Glenties, County Donegal.

Mr Adams was the president of republican party Sinn Féin from 1983 until 2018.

He served as MP in his native Belfast West from 1983 to 1992 and again from 1997 until 2011 before sitting as a TD (Teachta Dála) in the Dáil (Irish parliament) between 2011 and 2020.

Mr Adams led the Sinn Féin delegation during peace talks that eventually brought an end to the Troubles after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

He was detained in the early 1970s when the government in Northern Ireland introduced internment without trial for those suspected of paramilitary involvement.

Mr Adams has consistently denied being a member of the IRA.