Jamie Bryson has been inflicting upon us in the past couple of weeks, his views on perceived Loyalist censorship within the media and indeed press. Mr. Bryson proclaimed a campaign had been launched by Unionist Voice Policy Studies, run by, not surprisingly, Jamie Bryson himself, and is headed by Andrew McCormick of Let’s Talk Loyalism. This campaign came about because many people are beginning to realise that those opposing the NI Protocol seem to have a louder voice and more access to the airwaves than those who agree with having the Protocol in place and have begun to voice that opinion on none other than the Nolan Show (yeah, the biggest blah blah blah). I confess I listen to the Nolan Show the odd time and clearly I’m not the only one to have noticed Nolan cutting off members of the public who do not voice the opinion he desires portrayed on the show on that particular day.
I have heard people argue with Nolan only to be cut off, I have heard people losing their temper with Nolan because he continually cuts across them when they deliver points he doesn’t like and I have noticed Nolan allowing the likes of Jim Allister to savage normal members of the public who have no experience of speaking on the radio or publicly in general. The other side of the coin is this – Sinn Fein has boycotted Nolan as have the DUP, the two predominant parties in the North with what should be the loudest voices, leaving the TUV and Bryson to own the airwaves clearly free to deliver their own brand of Brexit and Protocol propaganda unchallenged on the Nolan Show. Unchallenged apart from a few brave members of the public and some smaller political parties.
Kate Hoey, also claimed last week there was a “concerted political effort in NI – by nationalist parties and Alliance – to bully media like Stephen Nolan into censoring unionist and particularly loyalist voices”. This was in reference to the SDLP’s Matthew O’Toole who questioned the “level of prominence consistently given to a small section of hardline voices” on The Nolan Show and he was right, and it is left to the smaller parties like the SDLP, Alliance, and members of the public to point that out. Clearly, civic and political Unionism does not like that criticism of what is seen by them as a show that is Unionist led by a Shankill lad and a show that is their own. What Unionism must remember though is that many of a nationalist persuasion and ‘other’ pay a licence to the BBC also and they have just as much right and their views and opinions hold just as much legitimacy as those held by Unionists in regard to the Protocol and beyond.
What Bryson is really speaking about here is his right to an opinion, the right to free speech, which is completely different to hate speech, and the fact others have differing and opposite opinions to his and have a right to express them on the airwaves of the BBC. Moreover, the reason he is getting so exercised about this is that the phrase ‘the people of Northern Ireland’ is becoming an increasingly overused generalisation by political Unionism to in some way subvert the qualification that they speak for only one community and at that, only those who support the removal of the NI Protocol and this one-sided dialogue by hardline Unionism, extreme Unionism is being fed out to the public every day on the Nolan Show.
Jamie speaks of Loyalist free speech as if he has been denied that right or has had it censored. OK, let’s talk about censorship Jamie. Have a wee word with, ironically, Gerry Adams who wasn’t permitted to speak on the airwaves to his own voters or supporters for years. From 1988 to 1994 by the British Government and from 1968 to 1994 by the Irish Government under Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act, Sinn Fein personalities were prohibited from having a voice in their own country for fear it would afford Sinn Fein political advantage and yet the same British government and indeed Northern Irish Unionists jeered and teased Sinn Fein to take a political stance while censoring them. Shall we pick one from your own side Jamie? Doug Beattie attempted to set his own more peaceful course in this coming election by distancing himself from what is becoming increasingly more hardline Protocol rallies due to the fact it escalated to the UVF hijacking a van from a working Protestant, forcing him to drive it to the Holy Cross church where not only was a cross-community peace event taking place but also a funeral and left the workman with the impression there was a bomb on board his van, thankfully it was a hoax. Simon Coveney had to be evacuated as did everyone else.
Doug Beattie, a Unionist, an ex-British soldier’s free speech in the North ended with him having his party office attacked and death threats against his staff by those who claim British soldiers are defending them. Censorship? The UUP had to stand aside in North Belfast for Nigel Dodds in the past Parliamentary elections because the UDA threatened staff at the UUP office. Democracy is the ultimate form of free speech and voting Unionists aren’t even permitted to cast a vote for who they want to represent them? Censorship? Numerous journalists write on various topics every day and if they don’t tow the Unionist line or indeed the Bryson line they are called Lundy’s and at times face the criticism of “why doesn’t she just join Sinn Fein”, a line aimed at Susan McKay by Bryson when she penned a piece titled ‘Powersharing in Northern Ireland could be over for the foreseeable future.
Jamie Bryson doesn’t know how lucky he is to have a voice in the North. Many, even within his own community have had their political careers ended by censorship and undue criticism by the likes of himself and Jim Allister and indeed the LCC and if they can’t take a little criticism over blatant bias on the Nolan Show then I fail to see how Unionism will ever be anything other than an obstacle for themselves. One only has to look at what happened to Joel Keys when he criticised Loyalism and Unionism for not talking to nationalists and dared to contemplate the idea of a new united Ireland and claimed “Unionism would benefit from confronting, not avoiding, the things it finds most difficult.” Joel Keys was branded a “weak Unionist” for so much as contemplating a new Ireland where Loyalists could feel at home. Peter Shirlow, professor and director of the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies, said at the time, “Keys represents a younger generation with different views from their parents.” So where is Joel Keys now? Censored by his own community for daring to go against the grain of an older generation like Bryson and Allister.
So much for free speech.
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