BBC censors ex-prisoners
Michael Ritchie, project manager of the ex-prisoners committee Coiste
na nIarchimi, has claimed that the BBC is operating a form of
indirect censorship which is keeping ex-prisoners out of the media.
He said that BBC producers' guidelines that relatives of a prisoner's
victims must be informed before the prisoner appears on radio or
television amount to censorship.
Ritchie made the claim after the BBC attended the media launch of the
group in Belfast's Linen Hall library but failed to cover it on
subsequent TV or radio broadcasts.
Mr Ritchie expressed his concern about the issue saying that the BBC,
``rather than go through the process of locating the family of the
particular victim, it appears find it easier to just not broadcast
the voice of the prisoner''.
He said that ``this approach makes ex-political prisoners out to be
second class citizens'' and amounted to a policy to keep ex-prisoners
out of the media.
The BBC told An Phoblacht that there were no official guidelines in
relation to broadcasting interviews with ex-prisoners but that
broadcasters did operate a policy of contacting victims before
broadcasting. A spokesperson confirmed Mike Ritchie's claims when he
said they weren't able to contact victims in time for news bulletins
about the launch of Coiste na n-Iarchimi.
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