Reporting of Northern Ireland unrest 'not telling whole story'
I’m concerned about the surge in violence Northern Ireland, where I recently conducted a year-long project, and about how the unrest is being covered in the media.

Media have all too often exacerbated conflicts by engaging in ‘us vs. them’ narratives and sensationalism. At the same time, there is concern that there should be more to reporting unrest than just the surface.

Una Murphy, editor of View Digital Magazine in Northern Ireland, said via email, “As a journalist working in a society where there was armed conflict I remember the first riot I covered, the first murder scene, the first funeral.  Looking at the TV pictures of the street rioting around Easter time in 'post-conflict' Northern Ireland, I felt for the young journalists covering these events. I thought that little had changed in how these events were framed.  I'm interested in exploring peace journalism, so I felt that counting the numbers and reporting on how many petrol bombs had been thrown and how many police officers had been injured, while important, was not telling the whole story.”

To see how much of “the whole story” is being covered, in a thoroughly unscientific study, I randomly selected 8 articles from US, UK, and Northern Ireland news outlets (see below) and examined their reporting about the unrest. 

The good news first: There was a wealth of accurate information about the multifaceted causes of the violence. Only one story inaccurately framed the unrest only as strictly a “unionist vs. loyalist” event. In general, the youth involved were, under the circumstances, treated respectfully and not demonized. NewsLetter’s article is the only one that used demonizing language from authorities (“shameful and senseless”) to describe the protesters.

Fortunately, none of the articles used a Chicken Little “the Troubles are returning” framing.

On the negative side, each of the eight stories prominently featured pictures and video of mayhem, the kind lamented by Murphy—mostly fires and clashes with police. Were these images overly sensational, and did they accurately reflect the events? Also, none of the reports interviewed any of the youth involved, leaving their motivations to be speculated upon by officials. Only one story (Belfast Telegraph) substantively examined how underlying poverty and other chronic deficits in working class loyalist areas may have helped to stoke the violence. 

In all the articles, there was plenty of posturing and bloviating from politicians on all sides, and boilerplate talk about urging calm. However, while there was expert analysis in many articles (the Politico article especially), none of the stories went in-depth into actual solutions that might address the underlying causes of the unrest.

Additionally, Murphy observed a shifting narrative in reporting about the unrest. “The narrative changed a few days into the story to concentrate on criminal gangs encouraging children to riot, with the Children's Commissioner stating that the behavior of some adults amounted to 'child abuse,’” she noted.

Shifting and superficial narratives seem to be standard practice for journalists covering civil unrest—a pattern seen not only in Northern Ireland but in last summer’s coverage of the BLM protests in the US.

Murphy asks, "When you are reporting on a riot scene you don't have much time for reflection. I am interested in finding out more about how journalists can frame the story differently when violence erupts on the streets."

In my book “Peace Journalism Principles and Practices,” I present seven principles on how to frame stories differently and more responsibly report civic unrest. These principles are shown below, with my comments specifically about Northern Ireland in parenthesis:

1. Report on “them” fairly, respectfully, and with empathy. (Why are these kids angry? Desperate?)

2.  Report about the invisible causes and effects of the unrest. (The geopolitical/Brexit analysis is fine, but what were the proximate causes during the last month that sparked the riots? Are criminal gangs really to blame?)

3. Use precise and objective language (Was it a loyalist uprising, a few angry kids, or something else? Was this child abuse?)

4. Report proactively to facilitate dialogues before violence occurs (How much reporting about the poor conditions in loyalist communities was done before the riots?)

5. Report counter-narratives that provide a different perspective on the protesters, the police, and the community (Profiles of protesters, police, impacted small shop owners, etc.)

6. Report with reconciliation in mind (Where can we go from here? How can we bring these protesters back into society? How does NI heal? Is this an opportunity for Stormont to unite in common cause?)

7. Give voice to peacemakers on all sides during and after the unrest (Were there protesters who attempted to head off or end the violence? Or those in either community—not politicians—who attempted to mediate?)

Media must report when unrest occurs. The hope is that this reporting can be done in a way that doesn’t pour gasoline on the fire, and helps society consider non-violent responses to the conflict.

Articles analyzed
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-56664868
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/09/uk/northern-ireland-violence-explainer-gbr-intl/index.html
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/explainer-what-is-behind-the-latest-unrest-in-n-ireland
https://www.politico.eu/article/northern-ireland-oped/

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/fears-mount-of-another-night-of-violence-in-northern-ireland-1.4527570
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/belfast-riots-northern-ireland-violence-what-loyalist-nationalist-stormont-emergency-meeting-947169
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/loyalist-concerns-cannot-be-dismissed-as-nonsense-arlene-foster-says-40303623.html
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/calmer-streets-in-belfast-on-saturday-night-following-violent-clashes-3196245