Today we had a guest lecture from Dr. Niall Gilmartin from Ulster University. The lecture was in preparation for our trip to Belfast in Northern Ireland tomorrow. Dr. Gilmartin lectured us on the Troubles, a period of conflict in Northern Ireland that stemmed from the civil war.
We looked at the Troubles through the lens of the media and how it was captured at the time. Dr. Gilmartin presented us with a variety of media theory’s ranging from media effects theory— the thought about the power media has to shape public beliefs— to libertarianism— freedom of speech means no regulation whatsoever. He also introduced us to the the Trinity of Media Analysis, a structure to analyze media through production, content and reception to understand where the meaning has been made or perceived. This talk of media theory and literacy was very pertinent to keep in mind as we dove into the actual content of the Troubles.
We learned a lot about the demonization of the IRA and republicans in general during that time. We specifically looked at an advertisement from a series where republicans were characterized as terrorist figures that are ruining the peace and causing all the problems in your life. This theme was carried over into a lot of media coverage of the conflict as a lot of papers and radio stations were either British-owned or loyalist ran. There was also a lot of regulation on terminology within the BBC where phrases such as “the army claims” were banned as it cast doubt on the army. There was also bans on calling Bloody Sunday, Bloody Sunday and BBC asked journalists to use “The London-Derry Killings” instead. This is a clear case of trying to minimize the brutality of the British, in my opinion, and shines a light on the narrative control that was happening during the conflict. Overall, the lecture was quite heavy but I was glad to get a lot of context and information ahead of our trip to Belfast tomorrow! See you there!