Northern Ireland has recently had several events take place that will no doubt have a great impact on the future political make-up of the area. On October 4th 2002, police raided the Stormont political buildings and seized over 1,200 documents, as well as some computer disks, that contained information linked to spying by some of the members of the republican political party Sinn Fein. Shortly after this, Britain suspended Northern Ireland's power-sharing government on October 14. The Stormont raids led to charges against a Mr. Denis Donaldson of espionage against the British government. Donaldson is involved with Sinn Fein and is suspected of being a key member of the IRA as well. The story has yet to unfold, as Mr. Donaldson's trial has not yet begun, but many seem to believe that this could be the beginning of a downward spiral for Sinn Fein and its supporters.
The Story has most certainly gained international attention as it is seen as a serious bump in the road towards peace between Northern Ireland and England. I looked at articles mostly from Great Britain and Ireland, as I read points of view from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. I also came across articles from the United States and China. The focus will be on the different points of view that are presented upon the breaking of the alleged spying by Sinn Fein and the arrest of Denis Donaldson.
The Sun, a London based newspaper ran an article with seemed to be the most aggressive against the accused actions of Sinn Fein, and the article seemingly places automatic guilt on the Sinn Fein party for corruption and disruption of the peace process in Northern Ireland. The article included such lines as, "Sinn Fein was last night under heavy pressure to come clean over the spy scandal", and, "The peace process .can't be sustained on the basis of law breaking." The over all tone of the article from The Sun had the flavor of putting the blame on the nationalists of Sinn Fein, but it was not completely bias towards what happened and seemed to give the facts.