Ruth Coppinger said she received death threats after refusing Gript question
By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA
Ruth Coppinger has said she received online death threats after refusing to take questions from Gript Media last week.
The Dublin West TD refused last week to answer a question from Gript, a member of the Press Council.
Other journalists then refused to ask questions and the press event ended.
Asked on Tuesday about the refusal to take questions, Ms Coppinger and People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy defended their position.
They argued that freedom of speech includes the freedom not to speak.
“We’ve spent the last week dealing with a series of very serious, violent and vile threats. Ruth has had to speak to the Gardai on two different occasions,” Mr Murphy said.
Ms Coppinger said she had “a number of threats about killing me” and “the gallows”.
She added: “I’ve had to endure a week of threats and trolling as a result of declining to answer a question here last week.
“I’ve been subject to relentless trolling, vile misogyny and active threats to my life, which has not happened before.”
She said she had reported the complaints to Gardai, who are taking it “very seriously”.
Gardai said in a statement that it had received a report from an elected representative in relation to death threats.
Mr Murphy was asked how their refusal compares to Donald Trump refusing access to the Associated Press (AP).
The White House has been fighting in court with AP, after the wire agency was blocked from covering smaller “pool” events when it decided not to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, as Mr Trump had called for in an executive order.
He said: “He is excluding them from the White House. That’s different. We don’t have the power to do that to Gript. We’re not doing anything like that in terms of Gript.
“We defend the right of freedom of speech and freedom of press. Freedom to speak includes the right not to speak.”
He added: “I think he (Donald Trump) should talk to them (AP), but I absolutely think he has the right not to and should not be compelled to do so, should not be placed in prison if he refuses to do so.
“I don’t know how you’re going to compel speech. Freedom of speech includes the right of people not to speak, and we have made a decision that Gript is not equivalent to other media outlets.”
Gript editor John McGurk said in an opinion piece published on Tuesday that it asks elected representatives questions on behalf of its readers and publish the answers “in full, and unedited”.
He said the organisation would “continue to ask them questions on matters of public interest, courteously and fairly”.
He also said that the site is regulated by the Press Council and has never been found in breach of principle 8, which mandates against the publication of material “intended or likely to cause grave offence or stir up hatred against an individual or group”.