‘
‘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
www.le.ac.uk

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