Monday 2 March 2009

Sally Murrer ponders future in newspapers

Sally Murrer, the Milton Keynes Citizen journalist prosecuted over allegedly receiving information from a police officer, is considering whether to stay in newspapers.
Charges against her of “aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office” were thrown out at Kingston Crown Court in Surrey on 25 November, ending a 19-month ordeal during which she had the threat of a jail sentence hanging over her.
Following the case, Sally told her editor at the Citizen that she would work for the paper for six months and then decide what to do, but was not sure that she wanted to continue as a news journalist following the police investigation.
Since then she has inquired about taking voluntary redundancy from the Johnson-owned Citizen and has been told her current post had officially been rated "not safe". Sally has been invited to reapply for a new post in the company, as yet unspecified.
She said: "Meanwhile I'm considering going freelance or going into PR. I'm also trying to get my novel published, hindered by the fact that the cops have still not returned my laptop bearing the only electronic copy.
"It's 100,000 words of utter fiction about a journalist and a detective, and the police thought it was evidence. Perversely, I really want to know if they enjoyed reading it".

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