In The BBC's “Irish Troubles”: Television, Conflict and Northern Ireland, Robert J. Savage presents a history of BBC television's role in Northern Ireland, from the launch of television in 1953 to the introduction of government broadcasting censorship in 1988. With his focus on news and current affairs programming from the 1960s through the 1980s, Savage argues that BBC television did not simply chronicle the events commonly called “the Troubles,” but was instead an active agent in the conflict. He begins his study with a description of the early years of radio broadcasting in Northern Ireland, noting that the unionist hierarchy initially thought that the BBC would strengthen their control of the region since London-originated programming would provide “a vital link to a British culture they considered their own” (7). This changed after World War II, when broadcasting was decentralized, leading unionists to fear that a rise in local programming would cut the province off from the British mainland while unmasking that Northern Ireland was a deeply unequal and divided society. In his account of these early years, Savage presents an intriguing portrait of the fragile state of unionist sensibilities while showing that conditions in the region resembled those to be found in far-flung British colonies. For instance, in the 1950s and 1960s the BBC employed few Catholics and featured little programming that could be defined as Irish or Gaelic, and when London-based reporters visited the province there was an effort to intercept them for briefings on the unionist perspective.

These conditions were upended in the late 1960s, when the nationalist minority's campaign moves for civil rights were suppressed by the forces of unionism, leading to a reemergence of an armed Irish Republican movement and the deployment of the British Army in an effort to stabilize the state. Savage reports that in the 1960s the BBC's Northern Ireland leadership viewed broadcasting as a way to advance moderate social reforms, but when faced with the upheavals of 1969 sought instead to try to use it as a force for social stability. To this end, current affairs and news programs were instructed to foreground moderate perspectives and avoid the airing of statements that were likely to be inflammatory. As the conflict spilled into the 1970s, the BBC faced growing pressure on every front. The Irish Republican movement became more media savvy, and political elites, civil servants, military officials, broadcasting authorities, and journalists endlessly wrangled over “what should and should not be featured on the BBC's regional and national networks” (3). A state-funded public service broadcaster, the BBC found itself reporting on the misconduct of the state, leading to repeated clashes between journalists and government or military officials. Among the many cases Savage presents to illustrate the strained position in which the BBC found itself is the broadcaster's coverage of Bloody Sunday, the 1972 shooting of unarmed civil rights protestors by paratroopers. A BBC television news crew filmed the incident, capturing footage that was broadcast internationally and catalyzed opposition to British rule in Ireland. However, as an official inquiry into the killings was launched, further BBC reporting on the issue was muzzled, to the anger of those who saw the incident as yet another illustration that the Northern Ireland state was beyond repair.

As the 1970s progressed, the BBC's difficulties never abated, as all sides grew more sophisticated in pressing their narrative of what was occurring, and government officials became more strident in their demands that the news media serve as a mechanism for discrediting the Irish Republican Army and Sinn Féin. Savage presents a poignant account of what life was like for those working at the BBC during this period, with one editor stating that the news staff was trapped in an “unrelenting grind, covering a community that was their own, tearing itself apart” (113).

Savage concludes his history with a description of the period from Margaret Thatcher's appointment as British prime minister in 1979 to the introduction of the 1988 broadcasting ban, which prohibited airing the voices of a number of proscribed organizations, primarily those linked to the Irish Republican movement. He reports that from the outset Thatcher was hostile to the BBC, believing that it had a leftwing bias, and angry that its reports undermined her position that the conflict was simply a matter of law and order.

The history Savage presents in The BBC's “Irish Troubles” is revealing, particularly with regard to the early years of the Troubles, which receive the most textured and nuanced treatment. He is largely effective in presenting both a broad description of the political upheavals that occurred and an account of the role of BBC television in these upheavals, although in some sections he does teeter towards repeating a familiar history of the Troubles rather than keeping the activities of the BBC in sharper focus. With Savage giving only passing attention directed towards the other news media available in Northern Ireland—such as newspapers, Ulster Television, or broadcasts from south of the Irish border—the reader should be mindful that BBC television was not the only news source in operation during the period examined, and for a fully comprehensive understanding of broadcasting during the Troubles will need to seek out other studies. The lessons to be drawn from the history Savage presents are not limited to Northern Ireland. His account is relevant to all who seek to understand the relationship between broadcasters, journalists, and the nation states that host them, and the challenges the news media will likely face if a state's mandate to rule unravels in the face of mass dissent or insurrection.