Prepared for War, Ready for Peace?: Paramilitaries, Politics, and the Press in Northern Ireland

Abstract

This paper by Tim Cooke, an experienced broadcaster and senior editor who has worked for BBC Northern Ireland throughout the troubles, provides important insights which help us to understand how the news media covers periods of sustained conflict and the transition to peace. The lessons of this paper are critical if journalists are to help, rather than hinder, the peace process. This issue is always important, but even more so given the apparent fragility of any settlement in Northern Ireland, the Middle East, and many other troubled areas of the world beset by ethnic and religious conflict.