Universität Regensburg 
Wintersemester 2002/03
Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
Hauptseminar 
“Sunday, Bloody Sunday...“: Roots, Present State and Literary Evaluation of
the Troubles in Northern Ireland

‘Bloody Sunday’ and its evaluation in the press

by

Stephanie Wenzl

Contents

Contents  2

A Introduction  3

B  5

1. Historical background  5
1.1 The Modern Troubles: Reasons and consequences  5
1.2 Bloody Sunday and its effects  6

2. 30.01.1972 and its coverage in the press  7
2.1 “The Observer” 31.01.1972 ...  7
2.2 The Time  9
2.3 Comparison of the articles  11

3 Anniversaries of ‘Bloody Sunday’ and their coverage in the press  12
3.1 The Guardian 30.01.2002 ... 12
3.2 The Telegraph 30.01.1997 ...  14
3.3 The Irish Examiner 31.01.2000 ... 16
3.4 The Irish Independent 31.01.1998 ... 17
3.5 Comparison of the articles  18

4. “The Irish Examiner” 26.01.2000 ...  19
4.1 Summary of the letter to the editor  19
4.2 Evaluation of the letter to the editor  19

C Conclusion  21

References  23

A Introduction

“It strikes me that the army ran amok that day and shot without thinking what they were
doing. I would say without hesitation it was sheer, unadulterated murder.”
Major Hubert O’Neil, coroner at the inquest in August 1973¹

This quote clearly illustrates the general attitude within the population of Northern Ireland towards the incidents of the 30th of January 1972, which later became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’. It marks one of the worst days in the history of the country for the past century and “has remained etched on the collective psyche of Irish nationalists ever since”². Additionally the peace process had to face a severe backlash. Although immediately after the event in 1972 an inquiry was ordered, conducted by Lord Wigerly, the Catholic population was unwilling to give evidence to a British tribunal. Indeed, later on it was regarded to be biased favouring the opinion of the Paratroopers. Since 1998 Lord Saville of Newdigate conducts a second inquiry due to the new information available. Nevertheless, there is doubt in its utility and it proves to be very expensive. The British government rejected several demands of the relatives of the casualties to make an official statement on the incident or to apologize for it. Thus it becomes evident that this happening still effects the relation between Britain and Northern Ireland, even many years after it happened. Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Northern Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlan finally seem now keen on improving the relation. For the relatives of the casualties ‘Bloody Sunday’ represents an item with which they have not finished yet. However, the problem seems to be that every person involved in a case aims to twist the truth until it fits their benefit. Although it is important to move forward in order to create a better future, remembering the past offers an opportunity to cope with the occurrence. The secretary of Northern Ireland, John Reid stated, “No one has yet devised a way in which all of us can share the truth because if pain is indivisible then truth is indivisible as well.”³ Thus, it is indisputable that a re-examination of the case is necessary to finally solve this conflict. Every year the anniversary parades cause much controversies and the press uses the date to portray this crucial incident again and again. For this reason the media have an important function when it comes to dealing with the event. Already in 1972 the press influenced the handling of ‘Bloody Sunday’ because the“[w]orld wide media coverage resulted in increased pressure on the British government.”⁴ 

In my paper which has the topic ‘Bloody Sunday and its evaluation in the press’ I intend to give a chronological summary of the events preceding and following Bloody Sunday in order to frame the historical background. Furthermore is it my purpose to show how the British Press, in particular The Times and The Observer, cope with this topic immediately after it occurred. Next I will analyse how the British and the Irish press deal with the anniversaries of the occurrence. In this case I will concentrate on The Irish Examiner, The Irish Independent, The Telegraph and The Guardian. Finally I will compare their representations in the next item.

B
1. Historical background

1.1 The Modern Troubles: Reasons and consequences

Due to “[d]iscrimination in housing and an unfair voting system”⁵ among other unjust treatments the Catholic community in Northern Ireland started to organize civil rights marches, which already were very common in the USA in the 60ies. Unionists on the contrary saw this campaigns “as a covert attempt to destabilise the state and there was a violent reaction”⁶ against them. In October 1968, during one of this marches in which several politicians and even a television crew took part, the Royal Ulster Constabulary interrupted the march in Derry in a violent manner. Because this action was broadcasted on TV there was a huge shock within the viewers towards this brutal behaviour. Moreover there were further severe and on-going conflicts between forces of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Catholic population of Derry. As a consequence “the Stormont government asked the British government for permission to allow British troops to be deploy in the streets of Northern Ireland”⁷ in August 1969 in order to support a peaceful atmosphere. Nevertheless the rioting got worse in the time to follow due to further sectarian conflicts and confrontations between the Catholic population and the British soldiers. Thus internment without trial was introduced on the 9th of August 1971 lasting until the 5th of December 1975. It had the purpose of diminishing the influence of the IRA by arresting its leaders. Actually it proved to have the opposite effect and ended in a complete failure. In this period violence and the support for the IRA rose and only few influential people could be captured owing to the old or only vague information that was provided by the RUC. During that time nearly 2000 people were arrested, but only one out of twenty was a Loyalist, which often lead to the allegation that this means was used in a discriminatory way. Later on this procedure was condemned to be a “torture”⁸ by the European Commission for Human Rights and the European Court “characterised it as inhuman and degrading treatment”⁹.

[....]

1 “The sorrow and the anger.” The Observer (26 Jan. 2002): n. pag. Online. Internet. 10 Feb. 2003. Available wysiwyg://234/http://www.guardian…k_news/story/0,3604,639707,00.htm

2 Harnden, Toby. “Myth and mayhem of Bloody Sunday.” The Telegraph (30 Jan. 1998): n. pag. Online. Internet. 13 Feb. 2003.

3 “Derry remembers Bloody Sunday victims.” The Guardian (30 Jan. 2002): n. pag. Online. Internet. 11 Feb. 2003.

4 Wichert, Sabine. 1994. “Bloody Sunday and the end of Unionist government.” In Jürgen Elvert, ed. Nordirland in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. 201.

5 “The troubles.” The Belfast Telegraph (17 Sept. 2002): n. pag. Online. Internet. 11. Feb. 2003. Available wysiwy://77/http:// www.belfasttel….co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=343319

6 “The troubles.”

7 “’Bloody Sunday’, 30 January 1972 – A Chronology of Events.” CAIN Web Service (08 Jan. 2003): n. pag. Online. Internet. 12 Feb. 2003. Available wysiwyg://82/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/chron.htm

8 David McKittrick, “Republicans keep lingering memory of internment alive,” The Independant, 10 Aug. 1989.

9 McKittrick