As far as the north was concerned most Dublin – based journalists and commentators did not want to know about discrimination, harassment by the RUC,UDR and British soldiers, closed border roads. They were not interested in what it was like for a person from a working class Nationalist background to live in the six north-eastern counties. They did not care. So when it came to men dying on hungerstrike they were completely out of touch with the reality of life in the six counties and many of them still are. Except for a few journalists, like the late Derek Dunne, they did not bother to investigate.
They did not want to know about the daily harassment and intimidation of the RUC, UDR and British army during the reign of terror by the British government. The reign of terror was seen by the whole world in Derry on 5 October 1968 because TV cameras happened to be there. It was seen in all its viciousness on Bloody Sunday, January 1972 when once again cameras were recording. Some reporters and journalists from Dublin media(like Kevin Myers) spent some time in Belfast and thought they knew it all after spending a few days in the pubs and hotels around Belfast city centre. They were easily brainwashed by pro- British propagandists and agents of the British government. The focus in their reports was almost entirely on the IRA and Sinn Fein. Those ‘baddies’ were the cause of all the trouble. It was they who killed more and maimed more people than the British. Forget the historical and political context and just keep the score was their attitude.
The Dublin commentators were completely oblivious to the reality of the British/unionist torture and oppression of a section of the population in this part of Ireland. They were not willing to listen and learn from the people who were experiencing repression and torture. They deliberately misrepresented the situation because the newspapers for which they wrote had a vested interest in presenting a pro-British view of the conflict. RTE, the national broadcasting service, made a determined effort to discredit and demonise Sinn Fein leaders. They also went all out to promote the SDLP.
There are journalists who were bought over and there are those like Ruth Dudley Edwards who hate the Irish people and hate themselves. In fact there are quite a number of Irish reporters and commentators who are racists in the sense that they hate their own people. These people have no principles. The Irish Independent newspaper has always held an anti-republican, anti-Sinn Fein policy. Many people buy this anti-republican propaganda every day.
When you remember the violent reaction of the RUC and the B-men and their loyalist friends to the Civil Rights marches in 1968-69 you will understand the reason why some people took up arms to protect their homes and to try to put a stop to the vicious attacks on Catholics. Further repression led to further escalation. When you found out about the British sanctioned torture of Irish republican prisoners in Long Kesh in the 1970s you understand the reason for the sacrifice of the hunger strikers in 1981. But the Dublin media did not want to know about these matters.
I found that the propaganda war was difficult to contend with. The British had facilities for putting out their propaganda. It was difficult to counteract –especially in the USA. The Dublinmedia cooperated with British propaganda. In the end they failed because they were slowly being exposed and the truth was getting out. Thanks to great research and determined campaigns like the Ballymurphy massacre group and those exposing the Glennane murder gang. I have no doubt that in time the truth will be so strong that it will set us free.
It is my hope that, someday soon, a monitoring group will be set up to monitor the behaviour of RTE journalists, presenters and producers.
Absolutely appalling for a priest to be churning out these articles apologising for acts of murder, hatred and terrorism. And not only apologising for immoral violence, but condemning those who opposed it as ‘racist’.
Christ Almighty Mighty Joe, does your backward mopery never end? How many catholic schools are there in Northern Ireland? How many British soldiers would it take to monitor every one going in and going out again?
Or are you just moping around, extrapolating and hyperboling your own sense of sectarian universe unto everyone else that will give a fart what you’re whining about?
No challenge to the facts though?
I would like to know what you are talking about kopper ? Honestly, I would.
Good piece and very true We must also remember the role the Catholic Church played in the demonisation of Irish republicans The churches support for the British establishment and its armed gangs I. e. The RUC/BRITISH Army The Catholic Church offered support for the SDLP from the pulpit They barred coffins of our republican dead from entering the church draped in tri colour and still do to this day There are a few Catholic priests who deserve credit as they stood with the people but in general Catholic clergy stood with the British establishment
The funny thing is loyalists accuse Republicans of being Anti-Protestant which is a conspiracy theory drawn up by Presbyterian settler fanatics in justifying stealing the land from it’s rightful owners but hey they really can’t see the catholic church never liked Irish Republicans which makes them utterly contemptible for any society to bear.
Roy Greenslade, wrote in The Guardian (8 September 2016) about the shooting of six men in Loughinisland in 1994:
“An MP stood up in the commons on Wednesday and said she knew the names of men suspected of murdering six people. Her remarks elicited a quasi-apology from the government for failings by the police in their attempts to bring the murderers to justice. Did that exchange make any national newspaper front page? No. Did it get big headlines on any inside page? No. Did it get covered at all? Hardly. Why? Because the murders took place in Northern Ireland and the London-based national press has a long record of ignoring what happens there.”
The “national press” may choose to ignore what happens in Ireland, however, there are many journalists, presenters and producers who choose not to ignore the plight of families associated with legacy issues. Roy Greenslade deserves credit for his article, however, we ought to remember those who have risked life and limb and continue to do so, in order to record events through the medium of impartial, professional journalism.
Nail on the head Jude,
I think it´s going to get worse with Brexit, The feudal lovers of the Irish media, led by her majesty Ruth, will see it as a great opportunity to bring us back to our rightful place as subjects of her Majestic Kingdom. Living here in Finland, I have yet to see even one Finnish journalist denigrate their own people like these arse licking Vipers do.
Bullykiller,
Father Mc Veigh
We are continually told that Sinn Fein is one of the biggest parties in Ireland.What happens when Daily Ireland (with a very definite S F bias) was published?It goes out of existence in a very short time presumably because it wasn’t attracting enough readers.Where were all these good republicans who should have been supporting it?Presumably they were buying a range of papers from -dare one say it-the Mainstream media!If you don’t like what the Dublin press are saying,don’t buy the papers!
This has been so informative! I thought that the IRA murdered lots of people in cold blood and carried out knee-cappings and punishment beatings to protect their criminal empire. Clearly all Brit and Dublin media propaganda.
And how wrong you are Joe Bloggs ! I grew up in a republican area in west Belfast, and you see Joe, I know what happened. My evidence is empirical.
Well Joe bloggs, that’s what happens when a community doesn’t have police force in the normal sense, unless your seriously suggesting the paramilitary RUC were an impartial police force (don’t make me laugh, I’m trying to make a serious point here) in a normal society, they have to police themselves to deal with the hoods and scumbags usually in the pay of said police force!
“Well Joe bloggs, that’s what happens when a community doesn’t have police force in the normal sense, unless your seriously suggesting the paramilitary RUC were an impartial police force (don’t make me laugh, I’m trying to make a serious point here) in a normal society, they have to police themselves to deal with the hoods and scumbags usually in the pay of said police force!”
There was a police force. The community was intimidated out of using it by the nationalist death squads who sought to assert control.
There are no excuses for summary gang ‘justice’ meted out by thugs with no thought even to any semblance of due process.
Good summary. I lived in Dublin from 1973 until 1997 and can concur with your account. I was in the media business, albeit, not in the journalism side of the business. I remember one time I was put forward as a presenter on a certain pirate radio station and the directors didn’t think it was a good idea, because of my accent. I was tolerated rather than accepted. Even though I married a dub, I was always introduced as, this is ‘such and such’s wife from the north’. I was never accepted into the Dublin community. I applied for many media jobs in rte but was never called for interview, even though I had all the qualifications required. They were and still are ‘anti nordy’. You’re welcome to Dublin -when are you going home?
That’s where I think Jude does a great job: monitoring the media. And I say that with sincerity.