Gript Media has confirmed it has suspended its editor John McGuirk pending an internal process concerning governance and related issues.
In a statement this evening, they said John McGuirk is currently suspended on full pay pending an internal process concerning governance and related issues. Contrary to reports the suspension is not related to editorial differences. No final determination has been made. The added by saying that Gript cannot comment further while the process is ongoing.
The Monaghan man issued the following statement following the statement from Gript.
“It had been my hope in recent weeks that outstanding matters between the interim leadership of Gript Media and I might be resolved amicably, and over the past six weeks I have made considerable efforts to achieve that end.
“However, the statement unilaterally issued by the company and without my consent this afternoon regrettably makes that aspiration much more challenging.
“For the past six weeks, I have not made any public comment or statement on events, despite innumerable requests to do so. However, the company’s decision compels me, against my wishes, to respond. I consider it an extraordinary breach of good faith.
“Before I respond, let me preface those comments by saying that I am immensely proud of everything we have achieved at Gript Media – starting with nothing and ending up as Ireland’s only profitable media company that does not accept state funding.
“I am so proud of the team we built – from Ben Scallan becoming a bona fide star reporter, to watching writers like Maria Maynes and Jason Osborne blossom into serious and credible commentators, and watching Matt Treacy become the country’s single greatest authority on IPAS spending. I am also proud of our gaining the faith and confidence of established names like Cormac Lucey, Kevin Myers, and Laura Perrins. I am proud of everything that all of us have accomplished together.
“To all of you, and also to Noble: I have missed your comradeship and friendship, and I hope I have led you well over the past seven years. I look forward to talking to you all personally, when circumstances permit. In all of this, Gript Media’s staff have played no role and have, so far as I can see, conducted themselves with the immense professionalism I have come to expect of them, in undoubtedly trying circumstances.
“I’m also particularly grateful to Sarah Ryan, who has been both the best friend, and the best podcast co-host, anyone could have hoped to have. In some form or other, we will be back as soon as it is possible to return.
“Unfortunately, company’s interim leadership has today chosen, of its own volition and with no discernible reason for so doing, to disclose the existence and breach the confidentiality of a confidential “process” that it itself initiated.
“That breach of trust and obligation makes my continued silence untenable and has made this statement inevitable. I am bewildered and disappointed by the company’s conduct.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I reject the substance of the claim against me referred to by the company in its statement entirely and without equivocation. Further, I reject the notion that the company has engaged in anything approaching a “process” – these matters have taken six weeks so far but with no resolution in sight.
“Across those six weeks, I have not been invited to a single meeting, asked to give evidence, or been given the opportunity to respond meaningfully to the company’s concerns in relation to any matter.
“The company says in its statement that “no final conclusion” has been reached on foot of their “process”. This is entirely true, and for what it is worth I am grateful to them for confirming that fact in public, but it might be more accurately stated as “nothing recognisable as a process has even commenced”. As such their decision therefore to issue a statement absent any final conclusion is ever the more bizarre.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I have never wished harm on Gript Media. Having devoted a considerable portion of my career to building a house, I have no desire to take a wrecking ball to it by saying anything more than strictly necessary to respond to what the company has said. I issue this statement only in direct response to theirs, and it is limited entirely to the matters that the company raises in public.
“It had always been my hope – though a hope made substantially weaker by today’s baffling outburst by the company - that the differences between the company and I can be resolved amicably. As I have communicated to them from the beginning, I see no benefit in public conflict either to me, them, or the ideals we all presumably still believe in. Absent it becoming necessary to protect my position, I intend, like the company, making no further public comment while these matters are dealt with.”
