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Representations of the 1981 Northern Irish Hunger Strike in International Press

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Representations of the 1981 Northern Irish Hunger Strike in International Press B 148 OULU 2017 B 148 UNIVERSITY OF OULU P.O. Box 8000 FI-90014 UNIVERSITY OF OULU FINLAND ACTA UNIVERSITATIS OULUENSIS ACTA UNIVERSITATIS OULUENSIS ACTA HUMANIORAB Erja Simuna Erja Simuna Professor Esa Hohtola THE MANY FACES OF University Lecturer Santeri Palviainen A CONFLICT Postdoctoral research fellow Sanna Taskila REPRESENTATIONS OF THE 1981 NORTHERN IRISH HUNGER STRIKE IN INTERNATIONAL PRESS Professor Olli Vuolteenaho University Lecturer Veli-Matti Ulvinen Director Sinikka Eskelinen Professor Jari Juga University Lecturer Anu Soikkeli Professor Olli Vuolteenaho UNIVERSITY OF OULU GRADUATE SCHOOL; UNIVERSITY OF OULU, FACULTY OF HUMANITIES, HISTORY Publications Editor Kirsti Nurkkala ISBN 978-952-62-1484-9 (Paperback) ISBN 978-952-62-1485-6 (PDF) ISSN 0355-3205 (Print) ISSN 1796-2218 (Online) ACTA UNIVERSITATIS OULUENSIS B Humaniora 148 ERJA SIMUNA THE MANY FACES OF A CONFLICT Representations of the 1981 Northern Irish hunger strike in international press Academic dissertation to be presented with the assent of the Doctoral Training Committee of Human Sciences of the University of Oulu for public defence in Keckmaninsali (HU106), Linnanmaa, on 25 February 2017, at 12 noon UNIVERSITY OF OULU, OULU 2017 Copyright © 2017 Acta Univ. Oul. B 148, 2017 Supervised by Professor Kari Alenius Professor Olavi K. Fält Reviewed by Doctor Antero Holmila Doctor Mika Suonpää Opponent Professor Leila Koivunen ISBN 978-952-62-1484-9 (Paperback) ISBN 978-952-62-1485-6 (PDF) ISSN 0355-3205 (Printed) ISSN 1796-2218 (Online) Cover Design Raimo Ahonen JUVENES PRINT TAMPERE 2017 Simuna, Erja, The many faces of a conflict. Representations of the 1981 Northern Irish hunger strike in international press University of Oulu Graduate School; University of Oulu, Faculty of Humanities, History Acta Univ. Oul. B 148, 2017 University of Oulu, P.O. Box 8000, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the international news coverage of the 1981 Northern Irish hunger strike. The media had plenty of emotionally and politically charged incidents to report, and they rendered it in various manners. This study discusses why these different representations of the hunger strike were born. This thesis analyses news about the hunger strike published in fifteen international newspapers. For this kind of research, historical contextualization is of great importance. Methodological starting point lies in the traditions of imagological methods. A mental image is understood here as something in our thoughts that steers us to see the world in a certain way. A newspaper depicts news stories in a way the newspaper and the society in which it operates see its worth. Media representations have a very complex background. Based on the findings, it seems likely that existing mental images play a major role in the way a news topic is covered and given meaning. In this case, news coverage was not based solely on the hunger strike but also on historical discourse which had created a certain meaning for the event. The coverage of each newspaper was based on their own worldviews. Internationally, the level of interest is determined by varied cultural and political factors. News coverage both reflects and affects. News from other countries is more likely to be reported if some links exists, something to identify and consider significant. The findings of the research suggest that news coverage is not always just the reporting of events. It can reflect more profound features. Each media source has its own reasons to represent news in a certain way. Primarily, the reasoning points to the medium itself. However, we can argue that news coverage also reflects the values of a community. News is usually produced to appeal to the majority of the intended audience. This case illustrates that international news coverage is a useful method in revealing and understanding mental images and their influence. Keywords: conflict, mental image, Northern Ireland, press coverage Simuna, Erja, Konfliktin monet kasvot. Kansainvälisen lehdistön luomat mielikuvat Pohjois-Irlannin nälkälakosta 1981 Oulun yliopiston tutkijakoulu; Oulun yliopisto, Humanistinen tiedekunta, Historia Acta Univ. Oul. B 148, 2017 Oulun yliopisto, PL 8000, 90014 Oulun yliopisto Tiivistelmä Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan Pohjois-Irlannin tasavaltalaisvankien nälkälakon kansainvälis- tä uutisointia vuonna 1981. Tapahtuma sisälsi poliittisesti ja emotionaalisesti latautuneita tilan- teita, joita kansainvälinen media uutisoi eri tavoin. Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitetään, miksi erilai- sia mediarepresentaatioita syntyi. Tutkimuksen päälähteenä käytetään viittätoista sanomalehteä eri puolilta maailmaa. Histori- allisella kontekstoinnilla on suuri merkitys tämänkaltaisessa tutkimuksessa. Tämän työn meto- dologinen lähtökohta nojaa voimakkaasti mielikuvatutkimuksen periaatteisiin. Tässä tutkimuk- sessa mielikuva käsitetään ajattelua ja maailmankuvaa ohjaavana käsityksenä, ja sanomalehtiuu- tisoinnin luomat mielikuvat heijastavat niin lehden itsensä kuin ympäröivän kontekstin käsityk- siä. Median luomilla mielikuvilla on monitahoinen tausta. Tutkimustuloksien perusteella on todennäköistä, että jo olemassa olevat mielikuvat vaikuttavat voimakkaasti uutisoinnin luontee- seen ja annettuun merkitykseen. Nälkälakon uutisointi ei perustunut pelkästään itse lakkoon ja sen tapahtumiin, vaan uutisointiin vaikuttivat myös historian kautta annetut merkitykset. Jokai- nen lehti uutisoi tapahtumasta omaan maailmankuvaansa perustuen. Uutisointi sekä heijastelee että vaikuttaa: media uutisoi herkemmin tapahtumista, joilla koetaan olevan merkitystä. Tämän tutkimuksen perusteella uutisointi ei aina ole pelkästään raportointia. Jokaisella tiedo- tusvälineellä on omat syynsä uutisoida tietyllä tavalla. Ensisijaisesti syyt ovat mediassa itses- sään, mutta media heijastelee myös ympäristönsä arvoja ja käsityksiä. Asiasanat: konflikti, mielikuva, Pohjois-Irlanti, uutisointi Acknowledgements Writing of this thesis has been quite a journey. The authority’s aim of completing doctoral studies in four years was nowhere near to actualize. The thing called life happened: this thesis was written along with five interesting work assignments, in four different homes, and after bypassing some detours and roadblocks. I’m grateful that it is possible to chase the ‘scientist dream’ along different paths. I hope that the future PhD candidates will have the same opportunity. I would have never been able to get to this stage without contribution of others. I am deeply grateful to my supervisors, Prof. Kari Alenius and Prof. Emeritus Olavi K Fält, for the time and effort they spent to guide me through the process. Thank you for all your constructive comments and your support when needed. I wish to thank Antero Holmila, Ph.D. (University of Jyväskylä), and Mika Suonpää, Ph.D. (University of Turku), for reviewing the manuscript of this dissertation and for providing helpful advice on how it can be improved. I am honored to have Professor Leila Koivunen (University of Turku) acting as opponent in the public defense of my thesis. I also want to thank Lea Janhunen for language editing of this thesis. I am grateful to a number of academics, colleagues and peers in Oulu and elsewhere for the inspiring conversations and encounters along the way. Feedback from fellow participants in international conferences and seminars has been highly rewarding. I also appreciate the experience of being able to do research at Colindale with other newspaper readers. I doubt that the newer newsroom of the British Library has the same charm. I want to thank the newspapers, their publishers, and picture agencies for allowing the use of the news material. Special thanks go to Jeffrey Simpson from The Globe and Mail and Andres Ortega from El País, who kindly answered to my questions and thus provided valuable insights. Financing a dissertation can be a challenge, and this was no exception. I got a full-year personal grant from the North Ostrobothnia Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation in the nick of time. That grant (and the two that followed) made it possible for me to finally become a full-time researcher. This study was supported financially also by Tyyni Tani fund, University of Oulu Graduate School, and the former Graduate School of Culture and Interaction (Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu). Travel grants from the Faculty of Humanities and University of Oulu Academics helped me to get firsthand experience of the heated atmosphere of Belfast, though the recent quarrels are hardly comparable with the “real” troubles. 7 Finally, I am grateful to my nearest and dearest for their care and support throughout the years. Above all, I want to thank Pekka, who has witnessed the whole journey. Thank you for your love and patience! January 2017 Erja Simuna 8 Contents Abstract Tiivistelmä Acknowledgements 7 Contents 9 Introduction 11 1 Newspapers 29 1.1 Newspapers examined in brief ............................................................... 29 1.2 The principles of making news ............................................................... 37 2 Main features of coverage 43 2.1 The overall amounts of published material ............................................. 43 2.2 The hunger strike as a news story ........................................................... 52 2.3 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 68 3 Contextualizing the hunger strike 75 3.1 Violent depictions of the
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