Some brutal viewing on BBC last night, including this picture of Father Alec Reid reading a dead British Army Corporal his last rights moments after being executed. But still an interesting programme and worth a watch. please log in to view this image ----------------------------------------------- In March 1988, a traumatic 14 day cycle of violence marked one of the lowest points of Northern Ireland's Troubles and made the journalists who reported it part of the story. But as BBC Northern Ireland documentary 14 Days reveals, that period was also a major turning point in the course of the Troubles. Even as he kneeled by the blood-soaked body of an Army corporal on a Belfast street, administering the last rites, Redemptorist priest Father Alec Reid had a key role in bringing Northern Ireland back from the brink. He would go on to play an important role as a facilitator in the process that finally brought peace. But at the end of that bloody fortnight 25 years ago the prospect of peace seemed remote. 14 days The spiral of violence began on 6 March when British special forces killed three members of the Provisional IRA. Mairead Farrell, Sean Savage and Daniel McCann were planning a bomb attack in Gibraltar. The three were unarmed, sparking accusations of a 'shoot-to-kill' policy. There was already tension at their funerals in Belfast's Milltown cemetery, ten days later, when lone loyalist gunman Michael Stone launched a gun and grenade attack on mourners, killing three and wounding more than 50. Three days later, at the funeral of one of those killed by Michael Stone, two British army corporals, David Howes and Derek Wood, who drove into the cortege were dragged from their car by the crowd, beaten and then shot dead by the IRA in Andersonstown in West Belfast. Bill Neely is a Belfast native and cut his teeth reporting the Troubles for the BBC. Now international editor for ITV News, he vividly recalls the 14 days when the violence seemed to spiral completely out of control: "Each one of these events was extraordinary. The fact that they all came in the space of two weeks made you feel - what the hell is going to happen next? What kind of cliff edge are we really at in Northern Ireland?" A new low For Neely these incidents marked a new low point, even by the standards of Northern Ireland's bloody history. "What was on display that day [when the corporals were killed] was pure savagery. The fact it was captured on camera showed the world the horror of what Northern Ireland could be like. "Even after twenty years of the Troubles we hadn't really seen very much direct killing. But this was real time - it was 'as live' and that's what was most shocking about it." Caught on film The unfolding horror was captured by the media and appeared in newspapers and TV bulletins around the world. But the media didn't just report the story - it became part of it, leading to paramilitary death threats against journalists and, later, confrontation with the government. At Milltown, there was no doubt about the perpetrator. The loyalist gunman, Michael Stone, was caught by mourners and severely beaten before being arrested by police. In the case of the murder of the two corporals, the media's pictures were valuable evidence in the hunt for the killers and their accomplices. The IRA knew this and tried to prevent films being handed to police. Death threats At the time, John Conway was Head of BBC News in Northern Ireland. He remembers how perilous it had been for journalists and cameramen working at the scene. "It was only down to the bravery and quick thinking of the veteran BBC staff involved that we were able to get any footage of the incident. Republican stewards who searched them leaving the scene asked for the camera tape to be handed over, but they were given a blank one instead." Conway recalls the threat he received after asking republican paramilitaries to stop intimidating his staff. "For the first time in over 20 years of covering the Troubles, I was rung at home on my ex-directory line and threatened, with a message of 'testify and you're dead'. I left Belfast at this time. When I was in England, my mother was rung at home and threatened and told that my father, who they knew was in hospital, would also be killed." Prevention of terrorism Then, as now, broadcasters and photographers maintained their independence and did not hand over any material that had not been transmitted. Conway describes what happened next: "It was agreed by the BBC that I should resist handing over material until I was threatened with arrest under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. At that point, I was empowered to hand over transmitted and untransmitted material. ITN and RTE were required to do the same." This tension between not obstructing justice and not endangering lives was not new for journalists in Northern Ireland, but rarely had the stakes been so high. Campaign of intimidation BBC Northern Ireland's Political Editor Mark Devenport recalls: "Associates of the many accused decided the prosecution might be derailed if the video evidence could be rendered ineligible. The only way to do that was to mount a campaign of intimidation against the journalists who, under a subpoena, had to testify the video was genuine. A chillingly well-organised campaign of intimidation took place." Conway and other BBC News reporters who had managed to get footage out of the Andersonstown killings, had their lives threatened and both had to temporarily leave Northern Ireland with their families. They, along with other a number of other members of the media, defied intimidation to give evidence at the subsequent trials. Accidental targets The dangers that journalists and cameramen faced covering these two weeks alone are vividly described by Mark Devenport in his memoir, Flash Frames. He writes that after Michael Stone was imprisoned for the Milltown cemetery killings, Stone sent a message to veteran BBC cameraman Peter Cooper, who had captured the terrifying close-up footage of the attack. "Peter had been under the impression that Stone had been firing in his general direction but not that he was the target. But Stone told a couple of my colleagues, 'Say sorry to Peter Cooper for me - I shouldn't have aimed at him. I thought that thing on his shoulder [his camera] was a weapon.'" Trauma For some journalists, the events they witnessed during these 14 days, and throughout the Troubles, would take a heavy toll. "I'd say a lot of journalists were traumatised by what they saw day in, day out and that included film editors who regularly saw the footage deemed too graphic to broadcast," says Conway. This was particularly the case for journalists who were on the front-line year in, year out and who lived in the community. Counselling was not generally offered or sought, so individuals learned to deal with what they had experienced in their own way. As for John Conway, he returned to work in Belfast after the threats, but after 20 years of covering the conflict and with a wife and two young sons, he felt it was time to move on and has spent the rest of his BBC career in England.
The IRA did many terrible things, but nothing comes close to there brutal kidnap and shooting of poor Shergar
Good job he got caught red handed. Btw. Who gives a **** about 1988? Medro is like a ****ing scouser.
