From October 1988 to September 1994 theBritish government banned broadcasts of the voices of representatives fromSinn Féin and ten otherIrish republican andloyalist groups on television and radio in theUnited Kingdom. The restrictions, announced by theHome Secretary,Douglas Hurd, on 19 October 1988, followed a heightened period of violence in the course ofthe Troubles, and reflected the UK government's belief in a need to prevent these groups from using the media for political advantage.

Broadcasters quickly found ways around the ban, chiefly by using actors to dub the voices of speakers from banned organisations. The legislation did not apply during election campaigns and under certain other circumstances. The restrictions caused difficulties for British journalists who spoke out againstcensorship imposed by various other countries, such as by Iraq and India.Ireland hadits own similar legislation dating from 1971 that banned anyone with links to paramilitary groups from the airwaves. When this restriction lapsed in January 1994, it increased pressure on the British government to abandon its policy;John Major lifted the broadcast ban on 16 September 1994, a fortnight after the firstProvisional Irish Republican Army ceasefire (declared on 31 August 1994).

Throughoutthe Troubles, UK broadcasters were regularly required to stop or postpone the broadcast of documentaries and other programmes relating to Ireland.^[1] One of the most prominent instances of this was the 1985Real Lives documentary for theBBC,At the Edge of the Union. The programme featured extensive footage of Sinn Féin'sMartin McGuinness and theDemocratic Unionist Party'sGregory Campbell discussing the Troubles, and following direct intervention by the government it was temporarily blocked from being aired. The incident led to a one-day strike by members of theNational Union of Journalists, who walked out in protest that the BBC's independence was being undermined.^[2]

The months leading up to the introduction of the ban had also seen a particularly intense period of Troubles-related violence.^[3] One of the bloodiest episodes of that time was theBallygawley bus bombing which killed eight British soldiers and injured 28 others.^[4] Another incident, thekilling of two off-duty British soldiers who drove into an IRA funeral procession, brought the media into conflict with the government after journalists present at the funeral declined aRoyal Ulster Constabulary request to hand over footage of the incident amid concerns doing so would put them at risk.^[1] In response the Prime Minister,Margaret Thatcher, told theHouse of Commons journalists had a "bounden duty" to assist with the investigation. "Either one is on the side of justice in these matters or one is on the side of terrorism".^[1] Film was subsequently seized from the BBC andITN under thePrevention of Terrorism andEmergency Provisions Acts.^[1]

TheConservative government believed there was a need for it to act to prevent Sinn Féin from using the media to defend the actions of the IRA,^[2] and the measures were part of a wider government response to the increase in violence, which also included changes to theright to silence and the tightening of rules allowing paramilitary prisonersearly release.^[3][5] Further controversy also erupted in September 1988 over anintended edition of theChannel 4 discussion programmeAfter Dark which was to have featured the Sinn Féin president,Gerry Adams, as a guest.^[1][6] The show was dropped after the conservative academicPaul Wilkinson – a professor atAberdeen University who specialised in the study ofterrorism andpolitical violence – voicedstrong objections to its transmission.^[1]

On 19 October 1988, the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, issued a notice under clause 13(4) of the BBC Licence and Agreement to the BBC and under section 29(3) of theBroadcasting Act 1981 to theIndependent Broadcasting Authority prohibiting the broadcast of direct statements by representatives or supporters of eleven Irish political and military organisations.^[7][8] The ban prevented the UK news media from broadcasting the voices, though not the words, of tenIrish republican andUlster loyalist paramilitary groups, as well as Sinn Féin.^[2][4] Among the other groups affected were theProvisional IRA,Irish National Liberation Army,Ulster Defence Association and theUlster Volunteer Force, although the ban was targeted primarily at Sinn Féin.^[2][3] Addressing theHouse of Commons on the ban, Hurd said, "the terrorists themselves draw support and sustenance from access to radio and television ... the time has come to deny this easy platform to those who use it to propagate terrorism",^[3][9] while theConservative Prime Minister,Margaret Thatcher, said it would "deny terrorists the oxygen of publicity".^[6]

The 1981 Act allowed the Home Secretary to introduce measures in the event of a public interest issue.^[10] A parliamentary debate was not required, though Hurd acquiesced to one, and the issue was discussed in the House of Commons on 2 November 1988.^[11][12] TheoppositionLabour Party introduced an amendment condemning the government's decision as "incompatible with a free society", but it was rejected, despite some Conservative MPs voting with Labour.^[11] The legislation was condemned by theNational Council for Civil Liberties.^[13] The National Union of Journalists planned a one-day strike in protest at the ban for 10 November, but the action was called off after its members failed to reach consensus.^[1] A group of broadcast journalists subsequently launched a legal challenge to overturn the ban, but in May 1989 theHigh Court decided the Home Secretary had acted lawfully.^[14] A later hearing at theAppeal Court upheld that decision in December 1989.^[15]

Hurd's belief was that the ban would place the print and broadcast media on a level footing, but opponents of the restrictions argued they were affecting the quality of news reporting from Northern Ireland, and consequently people's understanding of the issues.^[4][16] The broadcaster Scarlett McGwire, one of those to challenge the regulations, said in 1989, "The case is not just about journalists and being able to report Northern Ireland properly. It is about people not being able to understand what is happening there because it is not reported properly".^[16]Marmaduke Hussey, Chairman of the BBC, called the ban a "very dangerous precedent".^[4] A petition organised by theCampaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and including the signatures of 50 MPs, was presented at10 Downing Street on the first anniversary of its commencement.^[4]

Media outlets were usually left to interpret the restrictions in their own way, and the ban's remit was at first applied retroactively to archive material, though this was later relaxed following government advice.^[1][a] In 2005John Birt, a formerDirector-General of the BBC, said Hurd's announcement came "right out of the blue", whileDanny Morrison, who in 1988 was director of publicity for Sinn Féin, spoke of the total confusion that resulted. "I asked television and radio journalists, 'what can be done?'"^[2] Subtitling was initially used, but one of the main ways the new law was circumvented was by substituting the voices of actors for those who could not speak directly.^[17] The BBC and its commercial counterparts compiled a list of actors who could be called upon to record voiceovers for news items and documentaries about the Troubles, often at short notice.^[2] The actors frequently spoke the words in real time along with the person whose voice was being dubbed. One such interview with Gerry Adams once appeared on the USCNN network without anyone realising they were hearing an actor speak.^[3]

The restrictions were also applied to television drama, documentary and discussion programmes. In December 1988 theSecretary of State for Northern Ireland,Tom King, ordered Channel 4 to cancelan episode of the US drama seriesLou Grant that featured the story of a fictional IRAgunrunner, even though it had aired previously.^[4]Mother Ireland, a 1988 documentary about women andIrish nationalism that included an interview withMairéad Farrell, subsequently shot dead during anSAS operation inGibraltar, was also initially banned.^[4] When screened by Channel 4 during a season about censorship in April 1991, Farrell's words on republicanism were re-dubbed. On a later occasion, the appearance of the political activistBernadette Devlin McAliskey on an edition of the BBC'sNation discussing reasons forpolitical violence was also censored when much of what she said was subtitled.^[18]

The ban was sometimes interpreted as also applying to historical figures. An example of this occurred in 1990, when the voice of the formerTaoiseach andPresident of IrelandÉamon de Valera was removed from a schools television documentary on Channel 4, due to de Valera – who died in 1975 – having beenPresident of Sinn Féin from 1917 to 1926.^[19]

County Sound, a radio station inSurrey, dropped an interview with Errol Smalley, a campaigner for theGuildford Four, although he made a later appearance after overturning the decision.^[4] In November 1988, "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" – a song byThe Pogues expressing support for theBirmingham Six and Guildford Four – was subject to the regulations because it included "general disagreement with the way in which the British government responds to, and the courts deal with, the terrorist threat in the UK".^[4][18][20]

However, the ban was not always enforced. Restrictions were briefly lifted during the1992 general election, allowing a political debate between the Sinn Féin presidentGerry Adams and theSocial Democratic and Labour Party leaderJohn Hume to be heard during the election campaign, but the ban resumed once the polls were closed, even preventing Adams' reaction to the loss of hisparliamentary seat from being directly aired.^[21] An individual's real voice could also be broadcast if the news item in question did not directly relate to their political beliefs or paramilitary activities. Similarly, anyone subject to the restrictions who was an eyewitness to an event or incident could be heard. In February 1992, the voice of Gerard McGuigan, a Sinn Féin councillor, was broadcast when he spoke about an attack on his house by theUlster Defence Association.^[21] Adams was also allowed to speak about a similar attack against his property.^[17] On another occasion, the journalistPeter Taylor was given access to inmates at theMaze Prison for a documentary about the jail, but while the prisoners were allowed to speak freely about their personal lives, a complaint by the IRA prisoners' food spokesman concerning the size of the prison'ssausage rolls had to be revoiced.^[2] In 2005, Francis Welch, a television producer, described the incident as one that highlighted "the surreal nature of the restrictions".^[2]

In 1994, a sketch inThe Day Today comedy series byArmando Iannucci andChris Morris parodied the restrictions, withSteve Coogan impersonating a Gerry Adams-esque Sinn Féin leader, spouting rhetoric while inhalinghelium to "subtract credibility from his statement".^[22][23]

Thatcher's successor as Prime Minister,John Major, announced a review of the regulations in November 1993, telling theHouse of Commons that the general belief within the Conservative Party was that interviews with those subject to the restrictions were being stretched "to the limit and perhaps beyond".^[6][17] His decision followed a television interview with Gerry Adams, which a Conservative MP,Jill Knight, described as having caused "offence to a great number of people".^[17][24] Conservativebackbenchers andunionist MPs wanted more rigid restrictions,^[3] andThe Irish Times reported a "widespread feeling" that Major favoured a complete ban, but that journalists were opposed to this. It quoted the BBC'sJohn Simpson, who said that reporting events from Northern Ireland would become "virtually impossible".^[17] At that time coverage of Northern Ireland-related topics was becoming more frequent with the increasing pace of thepeace process.^[6] The review was conducted by theSecretary of State for Heritage,Peter Brooke. In February 1994, Major's government decided to maintain the status quo.^[25]

Pressure to reverse the restrictions grew after thestatutory instruments ofSection 31 of theIrish government'sBroadcasting Authority Act 1960 were allowed to lapse in January 1994. These had prohibited radio and television interviews with representatives of paramilitary groups and Sinn Féin^[21][26] (see:Censorship in the Republic of Ireland). From that point, anyone in Northern Ireland with access to the Republic of Ireland's state broadcaster,RTÉ, could hear the voices of anyone still banned from the airwaves by the UK regulations. Responding to the Dublin government's decision, Gerry Adams said, "Over 20 years of political censorship has served to stunt any hopes of a resolution of the conflict. It has denied the right of information. Good riddance."^[21] The regulations particularly came under the spotlight during a visit Adams made to the United States in 1994, where he gave a speech that was widely broadcast around the world, but had to be dubbed in the UK because of the ban.^[6][27] In May 1994 theNational Union of Journalists launched a legal challenge with theEuropean Commission of Human Rights, seeking to take the British government to court for breach of freedom of expression under theEuropean Convention of Human Rights, but the case was rejected. A similar challenge brought against the Irish government in 1991 over its broadcast ban had also been thrown out.^[6][28]

The UK ban was lifted on 16 September 1994, a fortnight after thefirst IRA ceasefire was declared.^[29][30] On the same day Major announced that tenroads linking Northern Ireland with the Republic (which had been closed by British security forces) would reopen, and promised any negotiated deal on the future of Northern Ireland's governance would be subject to a referendum.^[31] The deputy leader of Sinn Féin, Martin McGuinness, gave his first direct interview toUlster Television shortly after the restrictions ceased.^[32]

The decision to end the ban was welcomed by broadcasters.Michael Grade, who was then chief executive of Channel 4, said it had ended "one of the most embarrassing attempts to censor coverage of the most important domestic political story of post-war years", while John Birt commented, "We can once again apply normal and testing scrutiny to all sides in the debate".^[3] Sinn Féin also signalled their approval, but the ban's lifting was viewed with more caution by unionist politicians.Peter Robinson of theDemocratic Unionist Party felt the decision was premature while the IRA remained an armed organisation. "It gives de facto recognition to a body of men who still have their guns and bombs under the table, who still reserve the right to murder if they don't get their way".^[33]

Francis Welch, the producer ofSpeak No Evil, a 2005 BBC documentary that discusses the restrictions, argued that the legislation "added pressure to the process of reporting events in Northern Ireland", while Sinn Féin'sDanny Morrison believed the ban "was a weapon of war used by the government" in an attempt to silence the Republican movement. However,Norman Tebbit, a former Conservative MP who was injured in theBrighton bombing, said that the media was giving Sinn Féin and the IRA "publicity that they shouldn't have had".Peter Robinson of the Democratic Unionist Party argued the use of legislation was "a legitimate weapon for the state to use".^[2]

In 1994Tony Hall, the head of the BBC's News and Current Affairs, argued that the restrictions did not allow viewers to make a proper judgment about those subject to the rules, as the subtle changes to their voices could not be heard. In particular he cited the example of the appearance of Gerry Adams on the BBC'sOn the Record in September 1993, in which he spoke about the prospect of peace in Northern Ireland. Hall said Adams was nervous and defensive throughout the interview as the presenter,Sheena McDonald, argued that peace could not be achieved while the IRA continued its violent stance, but that viewers were unaware of these aspects of the discussion. He also said that some countries, such as India and Egypt, had quoted the restrictions to BBC journalists who complained about the over use of censorship by authorities in those countries.^[21] Additionally Hall argued that Sinn Féin and the IRA had manipulated the ban by using it as an excuse to decline interviews.^[21]

The BBC Foreign Affairs EditorJohn Simpson encountered similar difficulties on the issue of censorship while reporting from Iraq during theGulf War in 1990–91. "When I worked in Baghdad, officials there always used to mention our Sinn Féin ban if you criticised their censorship. I don't like to see this country appearing on the same side of the dividing line as Saddam Hussein on anything at all."^[21] At a conference on the reporting of Northern Ireland-related issues at theUniversity of London in November 1993, chaired by the Irish journalistMary Holland, several participants claimed it was undermining the practice ofinvestigative reporting.^[34]

Research by theGlasgow Media Group indicates that coverage of Sinn Féin by the BBC before the ban was minimal. In 1988 Sinn Féin was only heard or seen on television 93 times, had only 17 of the 633 formal BBC interviews as compared to 121 interviews with theConservative Party and 172 with theRoyal Ulster Constabulary and the civil service, and were never interviewed in the studio like many other participants.^[35] However, after the ban there was a steep decline in coverage of Sinn Féin and Republican views, with television appearances being reduced to 34 times in the following year, and the delays and uncertainties caused by ambiguities, voice-overs and subtitles often led to coverage and films being dropped entirely.^[36]

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• The Troubles (Northern Ireland)
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