The Loyalist Commission, which draws its membership from a number of sources, including paramilitary groups, has a potentially significant contribution to make within the wider unionist tradition.
It facilitates debate on a range of issues and provides an opportunity for loyalists to reassess the often insular approach they have followed in the past.
However, the commission's decision to endorse a UDA boycott of the Sunday World newspaper was a serious error of judgment.
Every individual can make up their own mind about the papers they read, but the idea that an organisation with the UDA's reputation could urge newsagents not to stock a particular title amounted to open intimidation and censorship.
The Sunday World has paid a high price for its commitment to investigative journalism, with attacks on its staff and offices, ultimately leading to the appalling murder of its reporter Martin O'Hagan.
Paramilitary figures may well dislike coming under the spotlight of publicity, but there can be no justification for the threats that they issue being given a veneer of credibility by the Loyalist Commission.
Lord Laird, the unionist peer who has advised the commission in the past, has said bluntly that the boycott must be brought to an end, and his words deserve to be heeded.
