The BBC's 'Irish troubles'

The BBC's 'Irish Troubles' is bull to the gunwales with gold-plated archival material, mostly unpublished until now. Robert J Savage has teased out and combined a number of narratives and timelines in a way that effortlessly clarifies some of the most complex events, as well as the twists and turns of public policy in relation to the BBC, during what was probably the most tumultuous period in the organisation's history., Prof John Horgan, Irish Times, 11 July 2015

'The story Savage narrates in this book is a fasci­nating one, and with great relevance for the broader political and cultural his­tory of contemporary Britain and Ireland.'
Aidan J. Beatty, New Hibernia Review

'Overall, Savage provides us with an absorbing account of the challenges which the BBC,
as a public service broadcaster, had to navigate in the midst of three decades of seemingly
intractable conflict, which, at times, felt like a civil war to those who lived in the worst-affected
areas. It is unlikely, given the specificity of the subject matter, to alter our understanding about
the fundamentals of the conflict in terms of its causes, course, and consequences. But the book
allows us to view aspects of the conflict through a new and highly distinctive lens. The result is
a fascinating tale, well told.'
Shaun McDaid, University of Huddersfield

'Robert Savage has written a richly detailed history of the BBC's 'Irish Troubles', a story of how a sometimes calculated self-censorship functioned before the British government made it official in 1988.'
Niall Meehan, Head of the Journalism and Media Faculty in Griffith College Dublin, History Ireland November-December 2015 Vol 23, No 6

'(The BBC's Irish Troubles is) absorbing history, a great deal is new and the book's major virtue is in bringing it all together to paint a complete picture of the problems faced by the BBC in trying to fulfill its brief to be a window on the world for its audience.'
Roy Greenslade, The Guardian

'Robert Savage's penetrating and exhaustively researched study of the tense relationship between the BBC, locally and nationally, and the civil and military authorities in Northern Ireland between ...draws on a rich variety of sources: on BBC records; national archives; published memoirs and interviews with some of the main protagonists. He writes perceptively, too, of the difficulties faced by news media in establishing and commenting on the truth in a divided society riven by conflict.'
Maurice Hayes, Belfast Telegraph

'Robert Savage's meticulously researched book shows that during the late 1970s and early 1980s senior BBC executives in both London and Belfast were fighting a running battle with successive British governments - Labour and Conservative - to maintain the corporation's independence in the face of perilous assaults from a range of establishment figures led by Conservative and Unionist MPs. ... Savage's thesis in this excellent book is that throughout the 1970s and 1980s the BBC's reporters, editors and senior managers worked to provide intelligent and timely news and current affairs programming about the Northern Ireland crisis.'

Andy Pollack, Dublin Review of Books

'What does emerge very clearly from Savage's history is that the people responsible for directing Britain's counter-insurgency had a direct channel of influence that could be used to apply pressure on the BBC which simply wasn't available to the nationalist population in Northern Ireland (or to the unionist population for that matter, but they could at least be satisfied that the two main goals of British security policy - to defeat the IRA and preserve the Union - were in line with their own wishes).'
Daniel Finn, London Review of Books

'Savage provides us with an absorbing account of the challenges which the BBC, as a public service broadcaster, had to na