Northern Ireland, the BBC, and censorship in Thatcher's Britain
Robert J. Savage (Author)
This book addresses the British broadcast media's coverage of the conflict in Northern Ireland throughout the 1980s, one of the most turbulent decades in post-war British and Irish history. It explores the incessant wrangling between the government of Margaret Thatcher and an aggressive broadcast media determined to provide objective news and information about the complexities of 'the Troubles' to regional, national, and international audiences. The Thatcher government was determined to protect its interests by shaping a narrative of the conflict in simplistic terms, presenting it as a fight between the democratic forces of law and order and ruthless terrorists hell-bent on carnage and chaos. Programming that questioned this simple paradigm by challenging the decisions, policies, and tactics of politicians, civil servants, and the army provoked outrage, angering governments intent on influencing how the conflict was presented at home and abroad. Senior officials employed a variety of tactics to try and shape a complex narrative, including threatening journalists with prosecution under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act. The constant pressure exerted by the government succeeded in encouraging self-censorship within both the BBC and IBA. Nevertheless, BBC and independent television companies remained determined to provide objective, cutting-edge reporting about the relentless violence of 'the Troubles'. This resulted in the imposition of formal censorship in 1988. However, threatening, bullying, denouncing, and finally censoring the broadcast media did not enable London to control the contested narrative of 'the Troubles'
Print Book, English, 2022
First edition
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2022