Paul Donovan Column
By Paul Donovan
T HE CENSORSHIP of Irish matters by the British media has become routine
over the years. The one-sided coverage of the conflict in Northern Ireland
has been depicted in terms of two feuding tribes seperated only by peace
keeping British soldiers. The IRA as the sole cause of the conflict. The
denial of history in terms of ignoring the struggle for civil rights as
a trigger for the conflict and going back further the role of partition.
Some may have thought things were changing with the peace process and
the close relationship that has built up between the governments of Tony
Blair and Bertie Ahern, the growing popularity of St. Patrick’s
Day throughout Britain and grudging recognition that the Irish represent
a large ethnic minority.
The coverage, or maybe that should be lack thereof, of the 90th anniversary
of the Easter Rising suggest the contrary — namely that much of
the media remains stuck with the old censorious view of Ireland.
There was the odd sniping piece such as Geoffrey Wheatcroft in the Observer
newspaper lining up the heroes of the Easter Rising with Hitler and his
followers. In the main though at a slow news time the event was largely
ignored by the British media.
The lack of coverage raises questions over how deep anti-Irish racism
still runs in the British media. Also the question: Was it racism or simply
part of the ongoing tendency to dumb down news and current affairs coverage?
The problem with much current affairs coverage today is that it does not
question but increasingly normalises the unacceptable. The world is at
war because George Bush and Tony Blair say so. No doubt this tendency
to accept rather than question has some of its roots in the Northern Ireland
conflict. To a large degree the government proved in the North of Ireland
that by using the law and a variety of other means the British media could
be made to fall in line.
The feuding tribes model provided a rigid way to interpret news events
that was largely adhered to throughout the conflict.
This meant that for more than 30 years the British public failed to get
an objective view of what was going on in the north of Ireland. This helped
normalise the unacceptable and delayed any chance of a peaceful settlement.
Today the concept of a war has become part of common parlance. There is
nothing like the disruption that the IRA campaign across Britain yet the
country is apparently at war with the concept of terrorism.
Programmes like Yorkshire TV’s First Tuesday that did the first
investigative work leading to exposure of who was really behind the Dublin-Monaghan
bombings. Who today would make the likes of ITV’s World in Action
programme Who Bombed Birmingham? about the false conviction of the Birmingham
Six?
The successors to the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four today are to be
found among those who have been detained without trial for the past four
years.
These individuals do not even know what they are accused of and have never
been brought before a court to answer any charges. There has been scant
coverage of these on-going injustices with most main line news broadcasters
legitimising rather than questioning the Home Office’s role as self
appointed tormentor.
So there is a definite lack of dissenting voices exposing injustice in
whatever sphere today.
The conflict in Northern Ireland offers many examples of how important
it is for people to receive objective news coverage. The on-going failure
to provide such a service explains why so many in Britain suffer from
historical amnesia.
The censoring out of parts of history that maybe do not show the British
state in a very good light, ensures only that the mistakes of the past
will be repeated in the future and as ever it will be the powerless and
innocent who are made to suffer. Let’s see proper news coverage
of events like the Easter Rising and the contextualising documentaries
that help put such events in a true historical context for the British
people.
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