Veronica Guerin

In1996, a36-year-old crime reporter became the first journalist to be murdered in Ireland as a direct consequence of her work--investigating the shadowy figures of Dublin's underworld. This compelling account exposes the frightening moral bankruptcy of the media and its devastating consequences for the individual and society.

In a vivid biographical portrait of slain Irish journalist Victoria Guerin, O'Reilly (Masterminds of the Right) tells a compelling story while thoughtfully exploring issues of journalistic ethics. When Guerin was shot dead in June 1996, she had been writing a series of investigative reports about the shadowy Dublin underworld for the Sunday Independent. She had interviewed notorious criminal Martin Cahill (subject of John Boorman's recent film, The General) shortly before he was killed in 1994. Cahill's death left Guerin free to describe his life and criminal associates in greater detail; still, those who knew the inner workings of Dublin's armed gangs feared for her safety. Guerin, writes O'Reilly, was uncommonly aggressive in pursuit of a story and "showed no discriminationAan approach to a known or suspected psychopath was carried out as nonchalantly as an approach to a harmless politician." Although O'Reilly believes that Guerin was reckless in ignoring the obvious warning signs, she concludes that Guerin was ultimately a victim of the tabloid tactics of her employers, whose sensationalist promotional stuntsApicture bylines and personalized headlines such as "I'm Threatened In Underworld Battle for City"Amade her a very visible target. O'Reilly turns Geurin's case into a cautionary tale about what can happen when the media is determined to sell papers at any cost.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A shallow, one-sided, and gratuitous indictment of slain Irish crime reporter Veronica Guerin and the Sunday Independent newspaper. Irish journalist O'Reilly, seemingly frustrated by the posthumous pieties surrounding the ``martyred'' Veronica Guerin, attempts to paint a far darker picture of her mysterious life and death. Ireland's best known crime reporter, Guerin was murdered by a motorcycle gunman on June 26, 1996, in Dublin. Her death stunned the country. The conventional wisdom was that Guerin had gotten too close to organized crime leaders and was killed to ensure her silence. O'Reilly contends that Guerin willingly courted danger, using unethical and risky methods of obtaining information about criminals. An undeniably aggressive reporter, Guerin basically staked out criminals' homes in order to gain interviews and scoops. In four separate incidents, Guerin was brutally beaten, shot at, shot in the leg, and threatened with murder. She nonetheless continued hunting down stories on drug dealers, killers, and assorted criminals. Meanwhile, her employers at the Sunday Independent were marketing her as a crusading media staran image she felt pressured to uphold. O'Reilly asserts that the Sunday Independent was aware of the danger facing Guerin but did nothing to protect her. The major problem with O'Reilly's thesis is Veronica Guerin herself, who, after being shot in the leg, left her hospital bed to interview an infamous Dublin criminal. If gun-wielding psychopaths couldn't slow down the indefatigable Guerin, how could her editors? When offered police protection, Guerin turned it down. When her editors offered her easier, safer assignments, she threatened to bolt to another newspaper. O'Reilly blithely implies that the Sunday Independent should have taken disciplinary action against Guerin for failing to protect herself or to take safer assignments. Ultimately, O'Reilly's attempt to lay blame for Guerin's murder on Guerin herself or her newspaper seems beside the point, and even a little nasty. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.