Complaint
This documentary contained the statement that 鈥渢he conflict known as the troubles was complex. But it was basically about whether Northern Ireland should remain in the UK or be part of the Republic of Ireland鈥. A viewer complained this was misleading as it ignored the role of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. 聽The ECU considered the complaint against the standards for due accuracy and impartiality set out in the 大象传媒 Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
In the ECU鈥檚 view the history of the Troubles is highly contested and few historians would take the view that it was 鈥渂补蝉颈肠补濒濒测鈥 about one political issue. Over a thirty-year period the demands and aims of the protagonists developed and the record is that the move to armed conflict brought with it a more nationalist agenda centred on the status of Northern Ireland.
But the statement was delivered over archive footage of bomb attacks and injured protestors which showed the armed conflict in the late 1960s and early 70s when the Provisional IRA carried out violent attacks, many directed at British state targets. 聽Although it failed to acknowledge an important component in the early phases of the crisis, it was not inaccurate to imply that the question of whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK was central to the conflict. 聽And whilst it could have been phrased more carefully, the statement complained of was not materially misleading in the context in which it appeared.
Not Upheld