Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has condemned the reported death threat against a local journalist by elements within the UDA.
Mr Nesbitt, himself a former journalist, is calling on the UDA Leadership to state if the threat is officially sanctioned by the organisation and if so to withdraw it, and to make clear its opposition to such menaces.
The Strangford MLA said:
"Death threats of this nature have no place in the Northern Ireland I want to build and those who issue these types of menaces only serve to risk excluding themselves from the brighter, better future the rest of us are working hard to create.
"A free press is the cornerstone of any democracy and any threat to a journalist is totally unacceptable and must be condemned unequivocally. No one is above public scrutiny, and when anyone believes that media reporting becomes inaccurate, misleading or distorted, there are mechanisms in place to seek redress. Threatening murder offers no vision for the future."
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