Politics in Northern Ireland and broadcasting law are not topics that I purport to know a great deal about. However, I have recently had a number of conversations about the 1988 Broadcast Ban. Last night I serendipitously caught an interesting BBC4 programme about this very issue.

In 1988 Margaret Thatcher famously said that British broadcasters provided “the oxygen of publicity for terrorists,” so banned the voices of the Sinn Fein (and other undesirable organisations) leadership on all broadcast media. Pictures of Sinn Fein members could be shown, but their words could not be heard. We could see them speaking but we had to read their words as subtitles, or listen to actors’ voices.
Some actors were consumate professionals and tried to lipsynch, conveying the nuances of Gerry Adams’ furry Belfast accent for example; others spoke deliberately out of synch to highlight the absurdity of the restrictions.

The situation was satirised on The Day Today, with Chris Morris interviewing a Sinn Fein spokesman (played by Steve Coogan) “who under broadcasting restrictions must inhale helium to subtract credibility from his statements.” I doubt Chris Morris felt threatened when he was told, “Your tone is antagonistic and you’re making me angry!” by someone sounding like a duck. A very funny sketch.