Northern Ireland The Bbc And Censorship In Thatchers Britain

This is a study of how Thatcher's government tried to control the narrative of the Northern Ireland conflict in an effort to shape how 'the Troubles' were understood by regional, national, and international audiences, and exploring how Britain's status as a leading global democracy was tarnished by the imposition of censorship in the 1988 Broadcasting Ban.

This is a study of how the Northern Ireland conflict was presented to an increasingly global audience during the premiership of Britain's 'Iron Lady', Margaret Thatcher. It addresses the tensions that characterized the relationship between the broadcast media and the Thatcher Government throughout the 1980s. Robert J. Savage explores how that tension worked its way into decisions made by managers, editors, and reporters addressing a conflict that seemed insoluble. Margaret Thatcher mistrusted the broadcast media, especially the BBC, believing it had a left-wing bias that was hostile to her interests and policies. This was especially true of the broadcast media's reporting about Northern Ireland. She regarded investigative reporting that explored the roots of republican violence in the region or coverage critical of her government's initiatives as undermining the rule of law, and thereby providing terrorists with what she termed the 'oxygen of publicity'. She followed in the footsteps of the Labour Government that proceeded her by threatening and bullying both the BBC and IBA, promising that the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act would be deployed to punish journalists that came into contact with the IRA. Although both networks continued to offer compelling news and current affairs programming, the tactics of her government produced considerable success. Wary of direct government intervention, both networks encouraged a remarkable degree of self-censorship when addressing 'the Troubles'. Regardless, by 1988, the Thatcher Government, unhappy with criticism of its policies, took the extraordinary step of imposing formal censorship on the British broadcast media. The infamous 'broadcasting ban' lasted six years, successfully silencing the voices of Irish republicans while tarnishing the reputation of the United Kingdom as a leading global democracy.

An exploration of the relationship between the broadcast media and political events in Northern Ireland. Contributors examine a range of issues, including the broadcasting ban, Ulster Unionism and British journalism, the Gibraltar killings and coverage of the conflict by Dublin journalists.

This book explores how news and information about the conflict in Northern Ireland was disseminated through the most accessible, powerful and popular form of media: television. It focuses on the BBC and considers how its broadcasts complicated the 'Troubles' by challenging decisions, policies and tactics developed by governments trying to defeat a stubborn insurgency that threatened national security. The book uses highly original sources to consider how the BBC upset the efforts of a number of governments to control the narrative of a conflict that claimed over 3,500 lives and caused deep emotional scarring to thousands of people. Using recently released archival material from the BBC and a variety of government archives, the book addresses the contentious relationship between broadcasting officials, politicians, the army, police and civil service from the outbreak of violence throughout the 1980s.

This text investigates the troubled relationship between British broadcasting and Northern Ireland. The work combines historical, sociological and cultural studies approaches to the study of Northern Ireland with critically informed analysis of nonfictional coverage of the conflict. It considers the peculiar institutional development of local radio and television in the context of a long-term view of consensus broadcasting in the state in Britain, demonstrating how in the years since 1968 the reporting of Northern Ireland has adversely affected the traditionally independent position of British broadcasting.

Media Wars analyses the media coverage of the conflict in Ulster over the past twenty-seven years. The book presents revelations about the manufacture of propaganda by the British Army, and analyses censorship by the British and Irish governments.

This volume offers a range of sociological, political, and historical perspectives on religion in Ireland from 1800 to the present. Going beyond the usual Catholicism-Protestantism dichotomy and adopting an all-island approach, the book's contributors address religion's interaction with several contemporary themes and debates in modern Ireland.