Veronica Guerin (A Book Review) - 2003

Author: Emily O'Reilly

Title: Veronica Guerin the Life and Death 0f a Crime Reporter

Publisher: Vintage

Year: 1998

City: UK London

No of Pages: 190

“Veronica Guerin” has been written by Emily O'Reilly who is a Political Editor of the ‘Sunday Business Post’. A former Nieman fellow at Harvard University, she has been journalist of the year and woman journalist of the year. She is the author of two books; candidate: the truth behind the presidential campaign (1991), and masterminds of the right (1992). Emily O'Reilly lives in Howth, county Dublin, with her husband Stephen Ryan and their four children[1].

Emily O'Reilly was a colleague of Veronica Guerin.

Two movies have been released on this “Award Winning Journalist”. One was released soon after her death “When the Sky Falls” (1998) and the other was “Veronica Guerin” (2003).

It’s a true story of an extraordinary, bold but reckless young ‘Irish Journalist’, who challenged to discover the facts behind an increasing drugs problem in Dublin, during the mid-Nineties. As a result of the “venture” she faced many warnings and an attempted murder. Furthermore, one Drug Boss, even threatened to kidnap and rape her son, but this “reckless journalist” was not fearful enough to stay away form her mission. This led to her eventual assassination by the “infuriated figures” of the underworld.

Ms. Guerin was born in 1959, came to Journalism at the age of 32 and died when she was barely 37.

Before joining Journalism she studied as an Accountant and a Political Researcher. She started her journalistic career with ‘Sunday Business Post’ in 1990, moved to ‘Sunday Tribune’ in 1993 and finally joined ‘Sunday Independent’ as a crime reporter in 1994, where she worked till her death.

In this book, the author declares Veronica as, a cruel, untrustworthy and worst of all, a bad mother. This book explains Guerin’s “reckless mania” to make a “change”. This journalist was however a remarkable individual, highly manipulative and charming and more than capable of getting the truth out of someone. She always worked in isolation; neither had an office nor a particular desk. This story hunter was usually out to reveal the truth, and for that purpose, she even traveled abroad.

For Veronica, there was no distinction between knocking at a Politician’s doorstep or a Murderer’s doorstep for interrogation.

She once said:

“I would, and do, take risks. I would meet anyone, go anywhere for a story”.[2]

After conducting an extensive research about Veronica’s past, Emily quoted some incidences, she tells that Ms. Guerin would dare to fake the signature of the chief executive of a semi-state company; she would shuffle through a senior politician's files; she would lie about her professional qualifications in order to advance her career. Veronica Guerin would go to astonishing levels, in the hunt of “highly dangerous criminals”.

Emily O'Reilly says:

“Veronica Guerin blurred the line between Journalist and Detective. In the hunt for a story she made herself and her son a target.”[3]

“Veronica Guerin was Charming, Talented but capable of duplicity, a woman who did not always put limits on how far she was prepared to go, a woman whose professional dealings had been highly questionable. Her interaction with the world of Journalism was likely to be, at least, interesting; at most dangerous.”[4] (Emily O'Reilly)

Critics say that Emily has tried to damage Veronica’s “saintly reputation” out of professional jealousy. Whereas Emily defends her book and say that she had been Veronica’s friend for the past decade and had no professional jealousy for her, but yes against the methodology that Veronica opted. She also pointed out that only a portion of the book dealt with “the award-winning journalist” and it was chiefly designed against the “Sunday Independent”. She believed that the country's best-selling newspaper was chiefly “exploitative." In her opinion, Veronica's editors had exploited Veronica’s reporting of “crime” and this had ultimately led to the circumstances in which she was murdered. Furthermore, she tells that after Ms. Guerin’s murder the newspaper has become careful in a lot many affairs.

In Irish public, Veronica Guerin’s image was, a brave young woman, a mother, fearless, willing to risk her own life in the hunt of truth, resistant to pressure to quit, the brightest and the best of all.

But in private, other questions were raised, her enthusiasm, the level of risk that any journalist is justified in taking, her methodology, and very much in private the way Sunday Independent had managed Veronica in the ‘two and a half years’ she had worked there. The newspaper let her work in her own way and most of her work was unchecked by the newspaper authorities.

After Veronica’s death the editor of the ‘Sunday Independent’ wrote:

“This is Irish Journalism’s Darkest Day. For the first time, a journalist has been murdered for daring to write about the Criminal Underworld and daring to record the lives of the brutal people who inhabit it. It is a brilliant and terrifying attack on the Free Press and on Freedom of Speech, freedom which we take too often for granted.”[5]

The opposition leaders of that time stated,

“Veronica’s murder is nothing less than a ‘direct attack on the democracy’.”[6]

In this book the facts stated are ‘bitter’ and ‘unpleasant’ for Veronica Guerin’s Family, Friends and Irish people, still; this issue is open to a “Variety of Interpretations”. But the common view is that, Veronica was killed because of her daring expression and daring attitude towards the Drug Criminals.

In this book Ms. Emily has pointed out good and bad points about Veronica and I appreciate the efforts that she made in collecting her past data and remembering her FRIEND after her horrible assassination but while criticizing Veronica’s methodology she explained the best part of her valuable efforts.

In my opinion, people such as Veronica Guerin, are “rare”, and their lives are an Irreplaceable Asset for a Nation. As far as her methodology of interrogation was concerned, it was “extremely courageous”, “brave” and “bold”, which made Veronica, a foremost pain in the neck of the Drug Mafia.

These exceptional people hence play an important role in making this world as safer place, even if there work can lead to “tragic consequences”. It is not that easy to be a Good Crime Reporter, we have to lose something if we want to gain something extraordinary.

I wind up by saying …

“Who, in this world does not love to be secured, protected or sheltered? But unlike others, unlike us, Veronica

viewed shelter as “imprisonment”.

For these exceptional patriots, their loyalty over comes the ‘horror of death’.”

Referances

[1] Emily O’Reilly, Veronica Guerin,(UK:1998), Title Page

[2] Emily O’Reilly, Veronica Guerin,(UK:1998), page 11

[3] the Emily O'Reilly and Veronica Guerin site BBC

[4] Emily O’Reilly, Veronica Guerin,(UK:1998),page 25

[5] Emily O’Reilly, Veronica Guerin,(UK:1998),page 7

[6] Emily O’Reilly, Veronica Guerin,(UK:1998),page 7