Independent declines comment on claim of newsroom brawl

Independent News and Media management has declined to comment on reports of a brawl in the Sunday Independent newsroom on Friday, in which the editor, Mr Aengus Fanning, allegedly attacked another senior executive.

However, it is understood that Mr Fanning is to meet management tomorrow to discuss the incident. The alleged victim, the operations editor, Mr Campbell Spray, has also been invited to give his version of events.

The row is believed to have occurred following a phone conversation between the two men, which in turn followed complaints by both over a reduction in the size of Sunday's newspaper. The phone-call is said to have descended into an argument. Witnesses say Mr Fanning then confronted Mr Spray in the newsroom, pushing him against a window and punching and wrestling him to the ground.

Colleagues intervened to separate the two men, and the company's human resources director, Mr Declan Carlyle, spoke to both. Mr Fanning later apologised to Mr Spray and other members of staff, but in what witnesses said were less than generous terms.

The group's managing editor, Mr Michael Roche, said he had nothing to say about the incident. The Sunday Independent's news editor, Mr Willie Kealy, who reportedly helped separate the two men, also refused to comment.

The timing of the incident is an embarrassment for the newspaper. A verdict is still awaited from the Employment Appeals Tribunal in a case taken by the Sunday Independent's former crime correspondent, Ms Liz Allen. At a hearing in April Ms Allen claimed constructive dismissal, saying bullying and harassment by editorial staff had forced her to resign. Judgment was reserved in the case.

Last month employees at the group were circulated with a document outlining Company Policy for Bullying and Harassment. However, the National Union of Journalists at the group is disputing management's claim that the policy was agreed with unions at the company in 1999, and has sought clarification of the matter.

Last October Mr Fanning apologised for comments in an article by columnist Mary Ellen Synon on the Paralympics, after a major public protest. He said he had not seen the article before publication, adding that it had been approved by senior production staff.