» SubscribeMain section
-
Top story
So Who is Hutton?
Re-Sista, Indymedia 28/1/04
With acknowledgments to Indymedia, we reproduce a history of Brian Hutton's life, from the Bloody Sunday cover up and the Pinochet affair to Iraq war lies.
Who is Lord Hutton, and what is in his background to come to these extraordinary conclusions? What has led to the report's extraordinary absolution of Blair's war lies and attack on journalistic freedom?Upon his resignation as BBC chairman Gavyn Davies commented on the irreconcilable contradictions between Hutton's "bald conclusions" and the balance of evidence presented to the actual Inquiry.
Even BBC political editor Andrew Marr comments on Hutton's underlying assumptions and background, making him more likely to believe and trust certain social groups: "again and again, he comes down on the side of politicians and officials."
So who is Hutton, and what is in his background to come to these extraordinary conclusions? What has led to the report's extraordinary absolution of Blair's war lies and attack on journalistic freedom?
The 72 year old Baron Hutton of Bresagh, County of Down, North Ireland, is a classic representative of the British ruling establishment. A member of the Anglo-Irish elite, he was educated at Shewsbury all boys boarding school, and then Balliol, Oxford, before entering the exclusive club of the British Judiciary. Whilst British Judges are overwhelmingly conservative, upper class, white, male and biased, Hutton's background is even more compromised.
His name will be familiar to residents of the six counties .... During the bloody thirty years war Hutton was an instrument of British state repression, starting in the late 1960s as junior counsel to the Northern Ireland attorney general, and by 1988 rising to the top job of Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.
Hutton spent his career as judge and jury in the notorious northern Ireland kangaroo 'Diplock Courts'. These were special non-jury courts, condemned by human rights advocates for their miscarriages of justice. He was hated for this role by the families of the many innocent Catholics wrongly convicted here.
Hutton distinguished himself after the Bloody Sunday massacre of civil rights protesters in 1972. He played a key role in the ensuing judicial cover-up called the Widgery Inquiry which absolved British troops of Murder. This miscarriage of justice is only now being investigated by the current Saville inquiry.
Then in 1978 he represented the British Government before the European Court of Human Rights, defending it against a ruling that it abused and maltreated detainees from the conflict.
However, he will be remembered in the rest of the UK for his role in the 1999 Pinochet affair. Another senior Judge, Lord Hoffman, had contributed to the decision to arrest and extradite the notorious former dicator of Chile and mass murderer General Pinochet during his visit to Britain.
As a law lord, Hutton led the rightwing attack on Lord Hoffman, on the excuse that Hoffman's links to the human rights group Amnesty International invalidated Pinochets arrest! Lord Hutton said "public confidence in the integrity of the administration of justice would be shaken" if Lord Hoffman's ruling was not overturned.
More recently, Hutton was also involved in the ruling that David Shayler, the former MI5 agent, could not argue he was acting in the public interest by revealing secrets.
This history of intimate links with, and knowledge of Britain's secret military intelligence operations meant he could be a trusted pair of hands when it came to the Kelly affair.
Last modified: Saturday, January 31, 2004
Previous events & announcements stories
GLASGOW: Support the protest rally against the war and the Hutton whitewash
LEEDS: Public meeting (12 Feb): Tell Me Lies plus the Hutton whitewash
Palast to launch investigative foundation
BBC At War: M'Lord Hutton Blesses Blair's Attack on BBC's Investigation of Iraq War
Claims
AFTER HUTTON: IRAQ AND THE MEDIA
NUJ: HUTTON REPORT IS A “THREAT TO INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM”, ATTACKS ON ANDREW GILLIGAN ARE “UNFOUNDED”
HUTTON IS A WHITEWASH: Demonstrate on Saturday for a full public inquiry into the war...
Peace & Progress Symposium:"Britain's Guantanamo: Internment Without Trial in Belmarsh"
Stop the War Coalition: forthcoming events
Book launch: 'Tell Me Lies'
Who Owns What (from Columbia Journalism Review)
"Your BBC, Your Say" - Jowell launches biggest ever public debate on future of the BBC.
ESF 2004: Preparatory Meeting in London
FREEPRESS IS HERE!
BOOK OFFERS
CONCERNS ABOUT ITV ASSET-STRIPPING
END THE OCCUPATION MARCH AND RALLY.
Can the Press Complaints Commission be 'independent, consistent and effective' ?
Freepress 134 On the site
Informed Dissent A CD by undercurrents and Peace News £6.50
Free Press Special issue - Iraq and the Media War
Biased news – do we want it here?
BOOK THE DATE NOW: CPBF AGM
HAPPENING - International Writers Day 2003
COMMUNICATING THE WAR ON TERROR
THINK LONDON: THINK LOCAL - Making better use of the capital's media
VENEZUELA: A YEAR AFTER A POPULAR UPRISING REVERSED THE COUP
Polls show majorities against US ownership of ITV and Murdoch buying Channel 5
-
Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
-
Previous stories
Events & Announcements
GLASGOW: Support the protest rally against the war and the Hutton whitewash
LEEDS: Public meeting (12 Feb): Tell Me Lies plus the Hutton whitewash
Palast to launch investigative foundation
BBC At War: M'Lord Hutton Blesses Blair's Attack on BBC's Investigation of Iraq War
Claims
AFTER HUTTON: IRAQ AND THE MEDIA
NUJ: HUTTON REPORT IS A “THREAT TO INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM”, ATTACKS ON ANDREW GILLIGAN ARE “UNFOUNDED”
HUTTON IS A WHITEWASH: Demonstrate on Saturday for a full public inquiry into the war...
Peace & Progress Symposium:"Britain's Guantanamo: Internment Without Trial in Belmarsh"
Stop the War Coalition: forthcoming events
Book launch: 'Tell Me Lies'
Who Owns What (from Columbia Journalism Review)
"Your BBC, Your Say" - Jowell launches biggest ever public debate on future of the BBC.
ESF 2004: Preparatory Meeting in London
FREEPRESS IS HERE!
BOOK OFFERS
CONCERNS ABOUT ITV ASSET-STRIPPING
END THE OCCUPATION MARCH AND RALLY.
Can the Press Complaints Commission be 'independent, consistent and effective' ?
Freepress 134 On the site
Informed Dissent A CD by undercurrents and Peace News £6.50
Free Press Special issue - Iraq and the Media War
Biased news – do we want it here?
BOOK THE DATE NOW: CPBF AGM
HAPPENING - International Writers Day 2003
COMMUNICATING THE WAR ON TERROR
THINK LONDON: THINK LOCAL - Making better use of the capital's media
VENEZUELA: A YEAR AFTER A POPULAR UPRISING REVERSED THE COUP
Polls show majorities against US ownership of ITV and Murdoch buying Channel 5
