Juno News - October 20, 2018


True North headed to UK to cover Tommy Robinson trial


Episode Stats

Length

3 minutes

Words per Minute

175.73105

Word Count

629

Sentence Count

33


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

British activist and commentator Tommy Robinson is back in court this week. At stake is a fundamentally simple question: Was he in contempt of court when he set off on that infamous live stream outside a courthouse in the United Kingdom when he was giving commentary and analysis on the second of three trials of alleged sexual groomers, gang rapists and traffickers?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 British activist and commentator Tommy Robinson is back in court this week.
00:00:04.620 At stake is one fundamentally simple question.
00:00:07.560 Was Tommy in contempt of court when he set off on that infamous live Facebook stream,
00:00:13.600 a 75-minute long broadcast outside a courthouse in Leeds in the United Kingdom,
00:00:19.040 when he was giving commentary and analysis, and yes, coverage,
00:00:22.580 on the second of three trials of alleged sexual groomers, gang rapists, and traffickers?
00:00:28.740 This is what Tommy Robinson was doing,
00:00:31.080 covering a case that he felt the mainstream media was ignoring.
00:00:34.780 He was actually, as you saw in that live stream, very cautious.
00:00:37.980 In fact, questioning throughout it.
00:00:39.680 I think I can say this, right? I'm good to say this. Okay, perfect.
00:00:42.680 Well, not to a judge in Leeds who had Tommy not only arrested,
00:00:47.940 but also tried, convicted, and sentenced in less than five hours.
00:00:52.480 Sentenced to 13 months, much of which he spent in solitary confinement.
00:00:57.160 Now, that conviction was overturned this summer,
00:01:00.200 but now it's time to have an actual fair and open hearing of the contempt of court charge.
00:01:06.340 And given how negligent and, in many cases, malicious the media in the UK have been
00:01:11.660 in covering Tommy Robinson,
00:01:13.680 I'm very pleased to be going alongside senior fellow at the True North Initiative,
00:01:17.600 Candace Malcolm, to cover that case on the ground in the United Kingdom this week.
00:01:21.900 In fact, by the time you see this, I might even be in the air,
00:01:25.140 as we hopefully bring some real journalism and reporting to what's happening there.
00:01:29.400 Now, I don't consider myself a reporter.
00:01:31.400 I'm a commentator.
00:01:32.540 I have a bias, as every media official does.
00:01:35.200 I'm just honest about mine.
00:01:36.800 But on the subject of Tommy Robinson,
00:01:38.660 I must admit, I am not a Tommy Robinson cheerleader.
00:01:41.760 I've had a couple of interactions with him,
00:01:43.620 but I wouldn't say he's a friend.
00:01:44.920 I don't know him well.
00:01:46.060 And there are things that he's said and done that I'm not entirely sold on.
00:01:50.220 But what I can tell you is that I want to bring an approach
00:01:52.860 that demands truth and fairness and accountability,
00:01:55.940 which is more than I can say for much of the media coverage of Tommy Robinson.
00:02:00.120 And I'm going there not because I believe that Tommy Robinson
00:02:02.820 is the guy we all need to line up behind,
00:02:05.240 but because I believe in due process.
00:02:07.260 And more importantly, I believe in hearing from Tommy himself
00:02:10.340 what it is that he stands for and who it is that he actually is.
00:02:14.700 And that's going to be what I hope to take away from this.
00:02:17.220 Now, while on the ground in the United Kingdom,
00:02:18.880 I'm going to be trying to find some other stories that might emerge there.
00:02:22.000 I'm only going to be there for a few days.
00:02:24.120 But I wanted to give you a heads up
00:02:25.600 that we are going to be at the True North Initiative going global
00:02:28.440 because the question of due process,
00:02:30.800 of freedom for journalists to report,
00:02:33.180 of freedom for activists to cover cases that are of interest to them
00:02:36.540 is a universal challenge.
00:02:38.600 What's happened to Tommy in the courts?
00:02:40.340 What's happened to Tommy in the press?
00:02:42.100 These are things that don't just start and end with Tommy Robinson,
00:02:45.500 but challenges that many people on the right in Canada
00:02:48.440 and other Western nations have to deal with.
00:02:50.900 So that's what we're going to be doing.
00:02:52.260 If you have any questions for us, please do reach out.
00:02:55.180 But stay tuned for a week of amazing coverage
00:02:58.100 at the True North Initiative,
00:02:59.520 the kind of which you are never going to find in the mainstream media.
00:03:02.680 For the True North Initiative, I'm Andrew Lutton.
00:03:04.780 The True North Initiative, I'm Andrew Lutton.