This afternoon, Trinity News published a story alleging that the Deputy Editor of The University Times, Mairead Maguire, divulged confidential information that was given to her by sources on condition of anonymity.
Mairead began work on the story in question, about the culture of bullying and harassment in the University Philosophical Society (the Phil) and the College Historical Society (the Hist), as Societies Editor of The University Times. She spent several months investigating the societies and her reporting was overseen at all times by senior editors of the newspaper.
Allegations that Mairead did not respect journalist-source privilege are spurious and defamatory. The decision to grant anonymity, as outlined in our Editorial and Ethics Policy, is only made if the Editor believes that sources could experience significant harm if they are named in an article. The decision to grant all interviewees for the piece in question was made as they feared they would be subject to unsavoury gossip or rumours.
The identities of sources were not made known to anyone else on The University Times staff, nor did Mairead give the names of any sources to anyone outside the paper. If the identities of these sources have become known to others, it is because the sources, or individuals close to them, identified themselves.
Sources who spoke to Trinity News allege that Mairead treated their experiences as “gossip”. This is, in itself, no more than gossip.
The University Times has a long history of protecting the identities of anonymous sources. Though The University Times is a student newspaper, we pride ourselves in maintaining the highest professional standards of public interest, investigative journalism.
In recent months, following the surfacing of similar allegations, senior editors in The University Times conducted a thorough assessment of the reporting and journalistic processes that led to the publication of the story on the Phil and the Hist.
Following this assessment, we are confident that these standards were upheld at all stages during the reporting of this article – and thus that the charges in the Trinity News article are entirely unfounded.
Emer Moreau
Editor
Jennifer Ní Chiara
Acting Deputy Editor
Mairead Maguire has temporarily stepped down from her role as Deputy Editor to run in the TCDSU sabbatical elections
