People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger has apologised for calling journalists “very pathetic” after they supported the right of Gript journalists to ask questions at a press conference last week.
Speaking to journalists on the plinth at Leinster House on Tuesday afternoon, Ms Coppinger and fellow TD Paul Murphy defended their decision not to accept questions from Gript, a right-wing online news outlet, and said they would continue to boycott them.
Subjected to intense questioning from other journalists, Ms Coppinger eventually apologised for calling journalists “very pathetic” for standing up for Gript’s entitlement to ask questions, in a tweet sent in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Ms Coppinger and Mr Murphy said Gript was not a normal media outlet, insisting it was a “propaganda arm of a violent right-wing extremism”.
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Ms Coppinger said she was subjected to “relentless trolling, vile misogyny and serious threats” online in the past week, including death threats to the gardaí. Asked directly if Gript was to blame for this, Mr Murphy replied: “Yes.”
In a statement issued earlier this morning, Ms Coppinger said Gript did not have an Oireachtas pass and was facilitated by right-wing parties in the Dáil. In fact, as of this week Gript does have a temporary Oireachtas pass.
She also said Gript was “not a good-faith actor” and “spreads misinformation and hate”, along with a number of allegations about the publication.
In a statement, Gript editor John McGuirk said: “Gript Media is a fully regulated member of the Press Council and bound, as all other member publications are, by its code of practice which specifically prohibits under principles one and eight respectively the “misinformation and hate” deputy Coppinger accuses us of promoting.”
He pointed out that the Press Council had “never found against Gript Media under the relevant principle (principle eight) prohibiting incitement to hatred”.
“Deputy Coppinger is of course within her rights to decline to answer a question, but it is borderline absurd to blame this publication for the hostile public reaction to her decision and the reasoning behind it. Gript Media is not responsible for the views of Conor McGregor, or any other person. If her declining to engage with us provokes a negative public reaction, that is a matter for deputy Coppinger. Our reporter asked deputy Coppinger a perfectly reasonable question about her views on deportations, which I note she continues to decline to answer,” he said.
Mr McGuirk added: “We make no secret that our journalism has a conservative, right-leaning editorial disposition – we are nothing other than transparent about that. However, we are committed to the principle that it is journalism and that it contributes to much-needed media diversity.”
