May Day Media Reaches New Low

national | summit mobilisations | news report Sunday April 11, 2004 17:43 by Aileen - Dublin Grassroots Network grassrootsdublin at yahoo dot com

Suspicious phonecall to Dublin Grassroots seems to come from the the Star. Journalists now creating the story they want to report.

I’m digging my garden on a warm Easter Sunday when my mobile phone rings. It is a private number. I answer it and a male voice tells me he is very interested in getting involved in the May day events. That’s great, I say and start to tell him about our next organisation meeting, inviting him to attend. He says he is in Cork. I suggest he look at our webpage (www.struggle.ws) on which we have outlined the meeting points for the events we are organising and join us on the day. ‘

Do you need any help’ he asks and I start to tell him to bring pots and pans for the Bring the Noise March on Farmleigh.
However he quickly interrupts me saying ‘I have explosives and guns. ‘
‘Are you taking the piss?’ I say.
‘No’ he says. ‘I have explosives and guns'.
‘We aren’t interested’ I say.
‘I won’t be stopped’ he says.
I’m going to hang up now’ I say ‘ because I think you are taking the piss’

I hang up.

Within minutes my phone rings again. This time my phone shows the number, I answer it and the caller identifies herself as Edel Kennedy from the Star. She says she wants to ask me about the violence organised for May Day. I smell a rat.

‘Did you just ring me’ I ask? She doesn’t say no. She says ‘Why? Did the same number come up?’. No, I said, but I think I just got a phone call from the Star.’ No, I didn’t ring you ‘she says. She then continues to ask me if we have been in touch with groups from abroad who are planing violence (no). I tell her that no named groups are individuals have threatened violence. None of the reports of violence come from named sources. I ask her does she know of any named groups or individuals. She hesitates and the only name she comes up with is the Wombles.. I tell her that the Wombles haven’t threatened violence. I ask her does she know anything about the Wombles. She doesn’t. As an afterthought she asks about the issues we are protesting about, clearly disappointed that the story isn’t panning out the way she wanted it to.

I can’t definitively prove that the two phone-calls were related.

But it seems suspicious, and it does seem that some journalists are now trying to set people up so they can write stories that raise tension and create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.