Sir Sleaze O'Reilly

Four newspapers owned or controlled by Tony O'Reilly published the story about Liam Lawlor and 'the prostitute', knowing that it was mere speculation. By Vincent Browne

They knew they did not know and yet they published the smear that Liam Lawlor's companion at the time of his death was "likely" to be a prostitute, a teenage prostitute. Had they known she was a prostitute, the qualification "likely" would not have been added.

Four newspapers, owned or controlled by Tony O'Reilly, published the story linking Liam Lawlor to a prostitute at the time of his death, knowing it was based on mere speculation. The newspapers were the Sunday Independent, the Sunday World (both owned by the company controlled by O'Reilly), The Sunday Tribune (ostensibly owned independently but now entirely controlled by O'Reilly), and The Star on Sunday, half owned but effectively controlled by Independent Newspapers.

Independent Newspapers and the newspapers owned and controlled by it have had a history of boosting newspaper sales on the basis of sensational stories that frequently damage the reputations of those identified and which often prove to be untrue.

The headline in the Sunday Independent "Lawlor killed in red-light district with teenage girl", and the sub-headline, "Police say former Fianna Fáil TD's young companion injured in high-speed Moscow motorway crash is 'likely to be a prostitute'" were calculated to sensationalise, to sell more newspapers, to enhance the profitability of Tony O'Reilly's Independent Newspapers.

They went on to quote a Moscow police officer who had given a clear indication of his(?) unreliability by asserting the woman in the car was not a close friend of Liam Lawlor's (how, possibly, could he have known?). This police officer was the informant for the contention that the crash occurred in a "well known pick-up point for prostitutes". They continued with a comment from this unidentified Moscow police officer: "The woman had no passport (untrue) …. there was no luggage in the car (untrue) so it is not the case that the car was coming from the airport (untrue).

The correspondent in Moscow on whom they relied and whose name they attached to the story, suggesting he had written part of the news report, Nick Paton Walsh, has said he had "no hand" in writing the story in the Sunday Independent. He said "an editor" from the newspaper had contacted him on the day Liam Lawlor was killed and following that he had had three conversations with a police officer in Moscow and had relayed the content of those conversations to the Sunday Independent. He said he had stressed that it was only a "possibility" that the woman in the car with Liam Lawlor was a prostitute.

The "apology" issued on Monday (24 October) claimed: "Similar to other media organisations, the Sunday Independent's morning coverage relied on a source of some standing in Moscow. We now accept that the information received was not correct and we apologise for the distress caused". This misses the central point: they knew at the time of publishing they had no reliable information on which to link Liam Lawlor with a prostitute.

This was not a mistake, this was a calculated decision to smear the reputation of Liam Lawlor on the basis of information they knew to be unreliable.

In a further "apology" the editor of the Sunday Independent, Aengus Fanning said: "Hindsight has shown this information (on the prostitute) to be incorrect and I take full responsibility for proceeding with the story in the manner in which it was published".

But this has nothing to do with hindsight. They knew the story was unreliable, because they quoted the police officer as merely speculating the girl in the car was "likely" to be a prostitute.

The Sunday Tribune published an almost identical story in the later editions of the newspaper on the Saturday night. The blurb on the front page story read: "Local police suggest former TD's critically injured traveling companion was likely to be a prostitute". It also said the crash happened in a red-light district.

The editor of The Sunday Tribune, Nóirín Hegarty, claimed on RTÉ's Questions and Answers programme the story was based on two sources and was published only after careful checking and was not "lifted" from the Sunday Independent. Curiously, two sources are not cited in the story. Identical quotations to those published in the Sunday Independent are used from an unidentified Moscow police officer – "likely to be a prostitute". But, as with the Sunday Independent, The Sunday Tribune knew the story was unreliable and speculative, as indicated by the use of the qualification "likely" and yet, on the basis of that the name of Liam Lawlor was besmirched.

The Sunday Tribune is a media organisation supposedly separate from Independent Newspapers plc. In 1992 the then Minister for Industry and Commerce, Desmond O' Malley, issued a ministerial order prohibiting Independent Newspapers from taking over The Sunday Tribune. Yet in reality that is precisely what has happened, in defiance of the ministerial order. Independent Newspapers have funded The Sunday Tribune since then to the extent of over €30m and in an 18-month period up to June 2005, Independent Newspapers plc funded losses in The Sunday Tribune to the tune of €8m.

The chief executive of The Sunday Tribune, Michael Roche, was previously managing editor of Independent Newspapers and was appointed to the Sunday Tribune by Independent Newspapers. The current editor of The Sunday Tribune, Nóirín Hegarty, was previously deputy editor of Evening Herald. She was appointed editor without the formality of the position being advertised and without candidates for the position being interviewed.

Another newspaper owned by Independent Newspapers plc, The Sunday World, also published the "prostitute" story in connection with the death of Liam Lawlor, as did The Star on Sunday (half owned by Independent Newspapers).

The Sunday Independent has a history of publishing sensational stories that are untrue. In 1992 it published a "world exclusive" interview with Bishop Eamon Casey, who months previously had fled Ireland after it was revealed he had fathered a child by an American woman, Annie Murphy. When challenged on the veracity of the claim to have obtained an interview, the Sunday Independent stood firm but two weeks later capitulated, acknowledging there had been no interview. This was described as a "singular error" on the part of Aengus Fanning, the editor then and now of the newspaper.

On 16 October last it reported, under a splash headline, "Taoiseach blew whistle on Muslim school", that Bertie Ahern had expressed concerns about a Muslim school in Cabra, Dublin, which, allegedly, was devoting too much time to the teaching of the Koran. The Department of the Taoiseach said the story was untrue.

There was controversy in November 2002 when it was reported, again sensationally, that Seamus Brennan, then Minister for Transport (he was not named initially), had ordered cigars and brandy from Aer Rianta and had failed to reimburse the company €5,000, the cost of the items ordered. This proved also to be untrue.

The newspaper was engulfed in controversy in 2000 when a columnist, Mary Ellen Synon, described the Paralympics as "grotesque" and "perverse". She wrote competitive sport was "not about finding someone who can wobble his way around a track in a wheelchair or who can swim from one end of a pool to the other by Braille". She went on to describe disabled people as "cripples".

The newspaper initially stood over the column, asserting Ms Synon's right to express her opinions. Two weeks after the publication of the offending column Aengus Fanning issued an apology, stating: "I fully accept that great offence was caused (by the column) and I am happy to apologise for this".

While Tony O'Reilly protests – correctly – that he does not interfere in the day-to-day editorial decision-making of the newspapers he controls, he has created a culture whereby editors feel encouraged to publish sensational stories to boost sales, even where there is doubt about the veracity of such stories (as in the Liam Lawlor case) or where serious harm will be caused without a countervailing public interest justification.

In addition, some of the newspapers he controls, notably the Sunday Independent, "targets" critics of O'Reilly. Meanwhile, the newspapers themselves and the journalists working for them studiously avoid any reference to the sensitive issues that have arisen concerning O'Reilly in recent years, notably the Valentia take over of Eircom, the £30,000 payment to Ray Burke in June 1989 and the threats issued to the then Taoiseach, John Bruton, by Mr O'Reilly and executives of Independent Newspapers, followed by the now famous front page editorial published on the front page of the Irish Independent on the day prior to the 1997 election: "Payback time".

The Observer, owned by The Guardian, also headlined the alleged association of Liam Lawlor with a prostitute when he was killed in a car crash. But it went further than other newspapers.

In a story by The Observer's Irish editor, Henry McDonald, it stated: "It is known that while on regular trips to Prague, Lawlor, the first Irish politician to be jailed for corruption (he was not jailed for corruption) visited brothels and sex clubs in the Czech capital". Henry McDonald quoted a Moscow police spokesman as saying: "They (Liam Lawlor and the woman in the car) were not close friends. She does not have a passport and appears to be Ukrainian. I can only assume they met on the street".

Asked on what basis he had alleged Liam Lawlor visited brothels and sex shops in Prague, Henry McDonald refused to comment, referring queries to The Guardian press office. In a statement The Observer said at first on Tuesday (25 October): "Our story reported accurately and in good faith comments made by the Moscow police. We have not received a complaint about the story, or been made aware of any evidence which contradicts it. Naturally, if presented with new evidence we will investigate further." Later the same day issued the following statement: "Serious discrepancies have emerged in the account provided by police in Moscow to The Observer of the events surrounding the death of Liam Lawlor last Saturday. In the light of these discrepancies we have removed the story published in the Irish edition of The Observer from our website. We would like to apologise for the inaccuracies in the story and for the distress the story caused."

The other newspapers that carried the "prostitute" story were News of The World and The People.p

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