NOTHING ELSE MATTERED
Nothing else mattered
RONAN HENRY
TELEVISION
NO medium on the planet is as powerful as live television. Nothing can convey emotion with the same intensity as pictures of an event as it happens. Nothing quenches the thirst for information as satisfactorily as television from the scene.
Humans, by nature, are curious creatures. Even on the quietest of days, we thrive on knowing what is going on in the world.
In the last 30 years, television news programmes on BBC Northern Ireland and UTV have fashioned a reputation, sadly through practice, as world leaders in reporting terrible mass murder.
We should be proud of our regional television. Huge media events, which would terrify editors and producers in similar size networks, are second nature to those based in Belfast.
Last Saturday, Omagh town suffered the worst massacre in the bloody history of our shameful Troubles. In news terms, it does not get any bigger. It will be a pivotal point in our history.
Therefore, the question must be asked: why didn't UTV and BBC Northern Ireland drop everything to provide us with continuous coverage of the slaughter in Omagh?
No-one is questioning the quality of the coverage needed. Indeed, as long as it is sensitive and factual, picture quality and continuity are of secondary importance when pitted against people's desire to know what is happening in their midst.
For those of us who do not have satellite (and it is still quite a number), radio and teletext provided the essential information.
It should have been television. It should have been the television stations that claim to be dedicated to our needs. It should have been Your TV.
Should evidence be required as to the necessity of continuous coverage, one needed only look at the faces of the people watching the newsflashes and extended bulletins shoe-horned into any window which could be found in the national network schedules.
Some watched in horror, others in terror, others viewed the images ashamed that the savage perpetrators claimed the atrocity in their name and others simply cried. But no-one, repeat no-one, took their eyes from the screen. They needed to know, we all needed to know.
Do not be mistaken.
Anyone who watched the aftermath of the slaughter of old, young and unborn on the streets of the market town did so out of concern for their fellow human beings. Only the sickest of individuals would derive any morbid pleasure from what they saw.
Once news of the massacre filtered through, no-one in this sorry part of the world wanted to know about anything else.
Football results, usually vital on a Saturday afternoon, were of no consequence. Blankety Blank and the futile repeat drama screened at primetime became irrelevant.
Nothing mattered to us except the dead, mutilated, bereaved and traumatised of Omagh.
Perhaps the decision not to screen continuous coverage was not taken in Belfast.
Maybe, the decision to prohibit regional screening of the tragedy was made in at network headquarters in London.
If this was the case, serious questions should be asked of ITV and BBC. Do they not realise that we needed to know about Omagh, not watch Lily Savage?
Perhaps it was a matter of resources or financing.
If this is the case, the question is: what has to happen before such resources are made available? The answer to that is unthinkable.
Or maybe, it was a matter of logistics or technology.
But surely in this day and age, if we have the tecnnolgy to broadcast live for one minute, we have the know-how to go live for hours.
Sky News, who devoted time, energy and resources to covering the horror of Omagh, proved conclusively that that it can be done. And done well.
Sky is now the market leader in the business of breaking news.
Let us hope that lack of imagination is not the reason for depriving us of full coverage. Let us hope that Newsline and UTV Live wanted to do it but were prohibited for reasons which they believed were beyond their control.
Full, uninterrupted coverage was a necessity. Northern Ireland's broadcast journalists are of top quality and professional enough to know what their audience needs.
We needed to know the truth of the horror of Omagh. Without the facts, rumours flourish and that helps no-one.
In 1998, we should be able to get information from the medium pest-equipped to furnish us with it. But on Saturday, August 15 this was not the case.
Finally, let us hope that all news media and press are spared the necessity of covering mass slaughter ever again.
RONAN HENRY
TELEVISION
NO medium on the planet is as powerful as live television. Nothing can convey emotion with the same intensity as pictures of an event as it happens. Nothing quenches the thirst for information as satisfactorily as television from the scene.
Humans, by nature, are curious creatures. Even on the quietest of days, we thrive on knowing what is going on in the world.
In the last 30 years, television news programmes on BBC Northern Ireland and UTV have fashioned a reputation, sadly through practice, as world leaders in reporting terrible mass murder.
We should be proud of our regional television. Huge media events, which would terrify editors and producers in similar size networks, are second nature to those based in Belfast.
Last Saturday, Omagh town suffered the worst massacre in the bloody history of our shameful Troubles. In news terms, it does not get any bigger. It will be a pivotal point in our history.
Therefore, the question must be asked: why didn't UTV and BBC Northern Ireland drop everything to provide us with continuous coverage of the slaughter in Omagh?
No-one is questioning the quality of the coverage needed. Indeed, as long as it is sensitive and factual, picture quality and continuity are of secondary importance when pitted against people's desire to know what is happening in their midst.
For those of us who do not have satellite (and it is still quite a number), radio and teletext provided the essential information.
It should have been television. It should have been the television stations that claim to be dedicated to our needs. It should have been Your TV.
Should evidence be required as to the necessity of continuous coverage, one needed only look at the faces of the people watching the newsflashes and extended bulletins shoe-horned into any window which could be found in the national network schedules.
Some watched in horror, others in terror, others viewed the images ashamed that the savage perpetrators claimed the atrocity in their name and others simply cried. But no-one, repeat no-one, took their eyes from the screen. They needed to know, we all needed to know.
Do not be mistaken.
Anyone who watched the aftermath of the slaughter of old, young and unborn on the streets of the market town did so out of concern for their fellow human beings. Only the sickest of individuals would derive any morbid pleasure from what they saw.
Once news of the massacre filtered through, no-one in this sorry part of the world wanted to know about anything else.
Football results, usually vital on a Saturday afternoon, were of no consequence. Blankety Blank and the futile repeat drama screened at primetime became irrelevant.
Nothing mattered to us except the dead, mutilated, bereaved and traumatised of Omagh.
Perhaps the decision not to screen continuous coverage was not taken in Belfast.
Maybe, the decision to prohibit regional screening of the tragedy was made in at network headquarters in London.
If this was the case, serious questions should be asked of ITV and BBC. Do they not realise that we needed to know about Omagh, not watch Lily Savage?
Perhaps it was a matter of resources or financing.
If this is the case, the question is: what has to happen before such resources are made available? The answer to that is unthinkable.
Or maybe, it was a matter of logistics or technology.
But surely in this day and age, if we have the tecnnolgy to broadcast live for one minute, we have the know-how to go live for hours.
Sky News, who devoted time, energy and resources to covering the horror of Omagh, proved conclusively that that it can be done. And done well.
Sky is now the market leader in the business of breaking news.
Let us hope that lack of imagination is not the reason for depriving us of full coverage. Let us hope that Newsline and UTV Live wanted to do it but were prohibited for reasons which they believed were beyond their control.
Full, uninterrupted coverage was a necessity. Northern Ireland's broadcast journalists are of top quality and professional enough to know what their audience needs.
We needed to know the truth of the horror of Omagh. Without the facts, rumours flourish and that helps no-one.
In 1998, we should be able to get information from the medium pest-equipped to furnish us with it. But on Saturday, August 15 this was not the case.
Finally, let us hope that all news media and press are spared the necessity of covering mass slaughter ever again.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0203
Published Date: 22-Aug-98
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