www.le.ac.uk

‘

‘The ‘normalisation’ of Northern Irish Politics? An exploration of the framing of the dissident Republican threat in the Northern Irish media

during the 2010 UK General Election.

Dr Paul Reilly & Dr Jingrong Tong University of Leicester The Mediation of Security

De Montfort University 18 May 2011

Northern Irish media and terrorism:

•  British and Irish media routinely deprived both Loyalist and Republican terrorists of the ‘oxygen of publicity’ during ‘Troubles’ e.g. 1988 UK Broadcasting Ban

•  Move from anti-terrorist paradigm (depoliticisation/criminalisation of paramilitary violence) to ‘qualified humanisation’ of NI terrorists in mid-nineties

•  Political actors used the peace frame to build cross-community support for the GFA - make a clear distinction between the political fronts that were engaged in the process and the violence associated with their terrorist sponsors

•  ‘Propaganda of Peace’ –media sell promise of ‘peace dividend’ for those who support power sharing institutions after 1998 Good Friday Agreement (McLaughlin and Baker, 2010)

•  November 2009: Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) reports that threat posed by CIRA and RIRA is ‘very serious’

2

Dissident Republican activity (BBC News NI, 12 May 2011)

Key events (6 April-6 May 2010) 6 April - Continuity IRA, Real IRA and INLA prisoners end protest

over conditions in Maghaberry prison 12 April - Policing and Justice powers devolved, David Ford

(Alliance) becomes Justice Minister Bomb planted by Real IRA in hijacked taxi explodes outside Palace Barracks, Holywood (close to M15 base)

13 April - Car bomb defused outside Newtownhamilton PSNI station

19 April - Chief Constable Matt Baggott becomes first police chief to patrol streets of Crossmaglen, South Armagh Dissident group Republican Action Against Drugs said to be responsible for series of pipe-bomb attacks in L’Derry

30 April - DCC Judith Gillespie warns of threat of imminent attack during UK Election

Research Questions: •  To what extent do the Northern Irish political parties that

feature in these articles appear to support the actions taken by the PSNI to counter this threat? Are groups and individuals opposed to the peace process represented in this coverage?

•  Is the relationship between Sinn Fein and the dissidents discussed? Are Sinn Fein urged to use their influence on these groups to prevent further acts of terrorism?

•  Does media coverage of the dissident Republican threat during this period appear episodic or thematic? Do soft ‘human interest’ stories feature prominently?

Belfast Telegraph Word Cloud:

Irish News Word Cloud:

•  They are not allowed to use Bebo on it [computers in community centre], cos (sic) we found them mucking about on it. We didn’t like some of the things they were doing on it. (East Belfast community worker 2)

•  We keep an eye on what they are using it [Bebo] for. They use it to communicate with people in the same room, not with the outside.

(West Belfast community worker 1)

•  We don’t routinely monitor social networking sites. There are new privacy settings on most and some of this is now deemed private information, therefore we require a specific purpose to be monitoring.

(PSNI Educational Officer)

7

Preliminary Results: Actors represented in media coverage of dissident Republicans

•  Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) features in 15 articles, followed by Real IRA (14), Provisional IRA (10) and CIRA (7)

•  David Ford (newly appointed Justice Minister) is the politician most frequently referred to by both papers (16 articles)

•  Five police officers are named in these reports, ranging from Chief Constable Matt Baggott (12) to Police Federation representative Terry Spence (3)

•  Evidence provided by Independent Monitoring Commission (5), M15 (7) and unnamed intelligence source (11) is used to describe the scale of the dissident Republican threat

8

Preliminary Results: •  To what extent do the Northern Irish political parties that feature in these

articles appear to support the actions taken by the PSNI to counter this threat? Are groups and individuals opposed to the peace process represented in this coverage?

A majority of articles (77.6 percent) in study show parties united in their support for the PSNI. Only 3 articles (4.47 percent) feature dissident Republicans, with a further 3 featuring rejectionist unionists (TUV)

•  Is the relationship between Sinn Fein and the dissidents discussed? Are Sinn Fein urged to use their influence on these groups to prevent further acts of terrorism?

Only 4 articles (3 in Irish News) refer to the split between Sinn Fein and the dissidents. There is no call for Sinn Fein to try and negotiate with dissidents.

•  Does media coverage of the dissident Republican threat during this period appear episodic or thematic? Do soft ‘human interest’ stories feature prominently?

Majority of articles (58.2 percent) feature stories of eyewitnesses to terrorism and 32 articles use adjectives that express outrage at dissident republicans(47.76 percent)

Conclusion: •  Both Belfast Telegraph and Irish News provided no

space for exploring the reasons why dissident Republicans remain committed to political violence

•  The preliminary results suggest that an episodic, human interest approach towards coverage of incidents such as the bomb attacks on Newtownhamilton PSNI station

•  Criticism of the PSNI response by parties such as the Traditional Unionist Voice rarely features in this coverage

•  Future research will explore whether the Newsletter conforms to this pattern and depoliticises the activities of groups such as the Real IRA