The reliably excellent BBC Radio Ulster podcast, Assume Nothing, is back with another justice case to examine. Eight-part ‘The Hack’ turns its lens on the aftermath of the 1994 Loughinisland village massacre, when six Catholic men were shot dead while watching the Ireland v Italy World Cup match in their local pub. Journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney covered the case for over two decades, as suspects were arrested and released, evidence destroyed, and police investigations obfuscated, until one day an anonymous package arrived on McCaffrey’s doorstep.

In it was an unredacted police ombudsman report naming the suspects and stating that the cover-up was to protect police informers. McCaffrey and Birney’s actions (they blew the whistle in documentary No Stone Unturned), and the subsequent fallout, provides the focus for this podcast, delivered through reportage, interviews and reconstruction. 

Episode one kicks off with a nerve-shredding account from McCaffrey of the morning he woke to the knock he had feared for years, knowing he was either about to be shot or arrested. It isn’t too much of a spoiler to say it’s the latter, but that’s only the start of constant legal wrangling that sees McCaffrey and Birney place their livelihoods (and their lives) on the line. Ultimately ‘The Hack’ evolves into an examination of police power versus journalistic integrity. The final episodes are knotty with legal intricacies and sometimes overloaded with fast-flying procedural detail. But as always with Assume Nothing, it’s the rigour of its journalism, balancing human ethical questions with political context that makes this series stand out. 

All episodes of Assume Nothing: The Hack are available now.