Hacks just don't get it
Tuesday: by Marcas Mac Ruairí
THERE was a surreal atmosphere in Dublin Castle on
Tuesday as the world's media hung around for a second
day, drinking coffee and speculating.
From time to time party representatives and spin
doctors would emerge to be mobbed by a scrum of
reporters seeking morsels of information as to how the
debate was unravelling.
A press release suggested a shift in the SDLP position,
conceding the need to apply deeper consideration than
the British wished before making any rash decision to
expel Sinn Féin.
The Alliance Party, without substantiating their
argument, nontheless announced that they believed Sinn
Féin to be in breach of the Mitchell Principles. And
they were going to offer to formally indict Sinn Féin,
thus freeing the British government from the accusation
that they were acting as judge and prosecutor.
Martin McGuinness gave a press conference, repeating
that Sinn Féin would resist efforts to have it expelled
and that it would defend the rights of its voters.
The Unionist Party, displaying their usual grasp of the
polemics, released a statement calling for an inquiry
into alleged Irish government support for northern
nationalists in 1970.
But by and large it was a quiet day with little visible
excitement, the world's hacks reduced to desperate
digging for snippets to meet their constant deadlines.
What was it like inside, they wondered. Were delegates
losing their cool? Were they getting on each others'
nerves? Outside there was only tranquility.
But what made the scene so surreal was the glaring lack
of understanding the hacks displayed as to what was
really happening.
This group of people who I suppose could be regarded as
part of the world's intelligentsia, meant to be both
questioning and insightful, had, even before a decision
is reached, and in spite of the dearth of evidence
being presented by the British, and despite the fact
that the supposed evidence emanated from the RUC, they
had bought into the British allegations wholesale.
While Sinn Fén was inside highlighting the injustice of
what was being proposed and arguing that their
expulsion would be illegitimate, outside republicans
and the broader nationalist community were becoming
increasingly angry at Mo Mowlam's behaviour over the
past week.
d to this background the media asked what was Sinn
Féin trying to achieve. The question they should have
been asking was what was the British government trying
to do?
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)