Gerry Adams successfully sued the BBC for defamation regarding a 2016 broadcast that accused him of sanctioning the murder of Denis Donaldson. A Dublin jury awarded him €100,000 in damages and determined the defamatory meaning of the broadcast. Adams criticized the BBC for not resolving the dispute despite his legal notices and vowed to donate the awarded amount to various charitable causes, including aid for children in Gaza and helping the homeless in Ireland. He condemned the BBC’s legal tactics as a longstanding narrative against Irish Republicans.
Mr Adams took the BBC to court over a 2016 episode of its Spotlight programme, and an accompanying online story, which he said defamed him by alleging he sanctioned the killing of former Sinn Féin official Denis Donaldson, for which he denies any involvement.
...the BBC has been held accountable for the content it broadcasts. Mr Adams said: 'As for the money that the jury awarded me in damages, I will donate this to good causes...'
The BBC's legal strategy was evident very quickly. Their narrative was that pursued by successive British and Irish governments for years. They blamed everything during the conflict on Irish Republicans and by extension, during this trial, on me.
The BBC lawyers embarked on a Jesuitical presentation of the case that tried to convince the jurors that... the words broadcast and published by the British Broadcasting Corporation... did not, in fact, mean that I sanctioned the murder of Denis Donaldson.
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