The Pensive Quill Defies Attempted Censorship

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7 September 2013

The Pensive Quill Defies Attempted Censorship

From: "Carrie" <c2mac[at]eircom.net>
To: <cryptome[at]earthlink.net>
Subject: Mirror request for content reflection
Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2013 13:43:05 +0100

Hello John,

My name is Carrie Twomey and my husband is Anthony McIntyre. We used to publish The Blanket in Belfast

http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu:81/

and now run The Pensive Quill

http://thepensivequill.am/

My husband was the lead researcher on the IRA Oral History archive at Boston College that is currently being sought by the PSNI via the US/UK MLAT, facilitated by US Attorney Carmen Ortiz (Aaron Swartz). We've been fighting against the subpoenas of the archives legally and politically for a couple of years now

http://bostoncollegesubpoena.wordpress.com/

We believe the origins of the first subpoena were set in motion by Irish News reporter Allison Morris, who conducted an interview with former IRA member Dolours Price. Dolours was heavily medicated and being treated for a variety of ills at the time. Her family objected to the interview and requested it not be published. The Irish News restricted what they published

http://bostoncollegesubpoena.wordpress.com/supporting-documents/irish-news/

However, 3 days after the Irish News story ran, a friend and colleague of Morris' at the Sunday Life tabloid, Ciaran Barnes, ran a front page spread containing everything the Irish News left out

http://bostoncollegesubpoena.wordpress.com/supporting-documents/sunday-life/

In Ciaran Barnes' report, he implied that he had heard Dolours Price's Boston College tapes. The US Attorney subsequently submitted both Morris and Barnes' stories as evidence to justify the first subpoena. Barnes never had access to the Boston College tapes and we believe it was Morris' interview he based his report on. The PSNI did not seek Morris' notes or records until after it was pointed out in court documents that they had never approached her or Barnes.

Barnes and Morris brought a Code of Conduct complaint against Anthony in their union, the National Union of Journalists. The NUJ's Ethics Council railroaded the complaint against Anthony and suspended him for 6 months

http://thepensivequill.am/2013/03/wiki-dump.html

He appealed this and the NUJ Appeals Tribunal tossed everything out, completely vindicating him

http://thepensivequill.am/2013/07/nuj-vindicates-boston-college-researcher.html

Interestingly, neither Morris or Barnes showed up to the appeal hearing, suggesting that the objective all along was to discredit him in the middle of the source protection/1st and 4th amendment battle to protect the confidentiality of the oral history archives against government incursion, adding stress and pressure in an attempt to break him.

Immediately following the Ethics Council verdict being over-turned, Morris attempted to re-try her complaint on a legal blog, and was caught in an astounding lie

http://thepensivequill.am/2013/08/what-price-justice.html

The Pensive Quill documented this and other questionable behavior around the Irish News and its reporter Allison Morris

http://thepensivequill.am/2013/08/the-weird-world-of-irish-news-journalist.html

The Irish News' Editor Noel Doran then began to contact Anthony in an obvious attempt to lay groundwork for a legal case. Yesterday a solicitor's letter from Johnsons arrived demanding that The Pensive Quill remove all its material about Allison Morris

http://thepensivequill.am/2013/09/not-censored.html

These letters are issued like confetti in order to police the web and the media behind the scenes; the sad fact is many outlets and individuals are intimidated into silence and comply, which enables the success of censorship. The wider public is not aware of this as the fear of being sued and dragged through court keeps people silent. We are not going silently into the night over this, and in exposing what the Irish News and its reporter are doing here, we hope that it lifts the lid on the prevalent tactic and frees up discussion on its use across Ireland north and south. We also intend by taking a stand against it to demonstrate that refusing to comply with the demands of censors weakens the power of the bully. Much like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we intend on pulling the curtain back to demonstrate the Wizard has no more power than what is freely given to him. We refuse to give any censor power over us.

As such we would respectfully request that Cryptome mirror the specific material the Irish News seeks to suppress, and if possible, ask its readers and supporters to do the same. Let the latest session of Whack-a-Mole begin.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration,

Carrie Twomey

Please stand up against the Irish News' attempt to police the internet and suppress freedom of speech: reproduce these articles across the web:

NUJ Wiki Dump

Mirror: http://cryptome.org/2013/09/tpq/tpq-wiki-dump.pdf

NUJ Vindicates Boston College Researcher

Mirror: http://cryptome.org/2013/09/tpq/tpq-nuj-vindicates.pdf

What Price Justice

Mirror: http://cryptome.org/2013/09/tpq/tpq-what-price.pdf

The Weird World of an Irish News Journalist

Mirror: http://cryptome.org/2013/09/tpq/tpq-weird-world.pdf

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