This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. The BBC and the Troubles: 1968 — 1998 Greg S. Campbell Submitted in fulfilment of the degree of PhD The University of Edinburgh 2016 !2 [blank page] !3 [blank page] !4 Abstract / Lay Summary In 1985, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared publicity to be the ‘oxygen’ of terrorism. Speaking from within a climate of domestic terrorism, such a statement draws into question the nature of contemporary media coverage. The British Broadcasting Corporation, existing as a public sector broadcaster, occupies a unique position in the context of 20th and 21st century mass media. The BBC is central to the creation and direction of national and international news agendas, in the formation of worldwide public opinion, and the brand name and reputation hold connotations of honesty, accuracy and impartiality. It can therefore be positioned as a ‘a microcosm of some larger system or a whole society' (Gomm et al., 2000, p.99). Yet, the historical visual output of the organisation in relation to domestic terrorism emanating from the environment of the Troubles — a significant period in social, cultural, political, and media history — has never been subject to rigorous academic scrutiny. Grounded in the field of media and cultural studies, and drawing upon extensive archival research, this thesis investigates the representation of domestic terror by the BBC in news and documentary format over the three-decade period of 1968-1998 through two interpretive modes of textual analysis: content analysis and semiotics. Throughout, the representation of events is contextualised in relation to media theory, with the words and pictures broadcast by the BBC analysed. The framing of acts of terror as image events is considered, as well as the visual aesthetic, codes, and values, of news reports. Ultimately, this work argues that BBC coverage of the Troubles has clear and identifiable patterns and symbols. Initial outbreaks of violence, where no corresponding representational referents existed, trended towards the vivid and graphic. Gradually, however, there was an overt movement away from this form; with the notable exception of moments where a method of perception created a disjuncture to established means, coverage was dominated by generic media templates, the rhetoric of euphemism, a concerted lack of contextualisation, and empty symbolism of the absent image. !5 [blank page] !6 [blank page] !7 [blank page] !8 Contents Abstract / Lay Summary 5 Author’s Declaration 11 Introduction 17 Chapter One: 45 Theory Chapter Two: 95 Methodology Chapter Three: 125 Origin Chapter Four: 157 Trouble Chapter Five: 215 Hunger Chapter Six: 257 Ceasefire Conclusion 295 References 315 [blank page] !10 Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that this submission has been composed by me and is entirely my own work. No part of this thesis has been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Greg S. Campbell June 2016 !11 [blank page] !12 [blank page] !13 [blank page] !14 You will see that this little clicking contraption with the revolving handle will make a revolution in our life…It is a direct attack on the old methods of literary art. We shall have to adapt ourselves to the shadowy screen and to the cold machine. But I rather like it. This swift change of scene, this blending of emotion and experience — it is much better than the heavy, long-drawn-out kind of writing to which we are accustomed. It is closer to life. Leo Tolstoy (quoted by Whelehan, 2013, p. 5). [blank page] !16 Introduction !17 [blank page] !18 I see terrorism as violence for effect. Terrorists choreograph dramatic incidents.… Terrorism is theatre. Brian Jenkins (quoted by Combs, 2013, p. 171). !19 [blank page] !20 #blamethemuslims1 At 15:25 on Friday, July 22nd 2011, a car bomb exploded in the executive government quarter of Norway’s capital city Oslo. Eight people were killed and twenty-six wounded. Two hours later, at 17:30, police in Oslo were informed of shootings on the island of Utøya, some 40 kilometres northwest of Oslo and the location of the Norwegian Labour Party's annual youth summer camp. Initial reports suggested ten fatalities; overnight this became eighty-five (later revised to 68). International news media immediately covered the incident, broadcasting footage from the two locations, and interviews with members of the police and government. Leading Western print organisations — both European and American and including The Guardian, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post — along with broadcasters on television, radio and online, sought to identity the perpetrators as Muslim extremists and explicitly, Al Qaeda. As the weekend progressed however, eyewitness accounts revealed that the perpetrator was a lone ‘Norwegian-looking man, tall and blonde, dressed in 1 Hashtags are user-created ‘groupings’ on Twitter (a form of metadata tag) used to identify keywords or topics. #blamethemuslims was created by student Sanum Ghafoor following the July 22nd events in Norway where ‘the default [response] was to blame Muslims’. Topsy.com (a tweet monitoring site) records more than 165,000 tweets using the tag, for example ‘my phones running out of battery #blamethemuslims’. !21 what appeared to be a police uniform’ (BBC 23.07.11). The attacks were homegrown, a domestic act of terror by a right-wing ideologue. (Domestic) Terror The shift from Islamic fundamentalism to white supremacist was marked by a change in language. The original moniker of terrorism — replete with political charge and inherently problematic definition — shifted to the even more problematic “domestic terror”. Domestic terrorism occupies a unique position in the discourse of global terror; in the United Kingdom, such terrorism has been dominated by the liberation movement of the (Provisional) Irish Republican Army (IRA). Whilst the notion of domestic then — and ideas of inside/outside and “home- grown” — are complicated by the identification of those in, and supporting of, the IRA as Irish (and not British), the Troubles are fundamentally identified as a period of domestic terror. After 9/11 there has been a renewed approach to international terror, with a rising focus on Islamic terrorism as the global threat. Yet there remains a continued threat of violence from the two main Republican groups, the Continuity IRA (CIRA) and the Real IRA (RIRA), who both reject the 1998 Belfast agreement. An overall development has accompanied this passage of time, from violence to dialogue. Simultaneously, there has been an associated (and ongoing) shift of terrorist to interlocutor, opening up complex questions of framing. !22 The Troubles The origins of the IRA (in its modern sense) can be traced to its predecessor, the Irish Volunteers, the April 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, and the formation of the Irish State in 1919. Seeking the reunification of Ireland, through the incorporation of the six counties of Northern Ireland, the IRA as an organisation became increasingly fractured, marginalised and essentially ceased to exist in the post-World War II period. Increased violence (on Catholics by the Loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in 1966), and the growing civil rights movement in 1968 — centred on the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and demanding an end to discrimination (in housing and employment) and gerrymandering — ultimately led to intense political and sectarian rioting across Northern Ireland in August 1969. More nationalist members of the Republican movement, dissatisfied with the IRA’s strategy, split in December 1969, and the Provisional IRA were formed. They would kill some 1,780 people between 1969 and 2001. Euro-Terror The Irish Civil Rights organisation, drawing on the tactics and symbolism of the American Civil Rights movement, occurred at a period of protest and social change on a global level. 'There has never been a year like 1968, and it is unlikely there will ever be again', according to Mark Kurlansky in 1968: The Year That Rocked the World; 'at a time when nations and cultures were still very different…there occurred a spontaneous combustion of rebellious !23 spirits around the world’ (Kurlansky, 2004, p.xv). Yet the resultant effect was one of violence and domestic terrorism: the birth of what Yonah Alexander terms Fighting Communist Organizations (FCO) (1992). Alongside the IRA’s resurgence, the roots of the Baader-Meinhof cells in West Germany and the Red Brigades in Italy can be traced to the turbulent events of 1968. The idea of international terrorism was established at this point: The actions of the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof gang) in West Germany, the Red Army in Italy, the Angry