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Historical investigation programme, taking a document as a starting point

Historical investigation programme, taking a document as a starting point from which to shed new light on past events

Document: Propaganda in Northern Ireland

Propaganda in Northern Ireland

22/03/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Document, Propaganda in Northern Ireland

Mike Thomson investigates the shadowy world of black propaganda in Northern Ireland.

Mike Thomson investigates how a covert black propaganda campaign compromised reporting of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s.

Mike Thomson presents the series using documentary evidence to throw new light on past events.

With the Bloody Sunday Inquiry due to submit its report to the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Mike investigates how the tragic events of 30th January 1972 sparked a murky propaganda battle which was fought in the world's media. Mike discovers how a secretive foreign office department working alongside a covert army intelligence unit spun stories against Republicans and Loyalists in the years after Bloody Sunday: stories which are now known to be untrue. He hears how this black propaganda campaign included tall tales of devil-worshipping among paramilitary groups and deliveries of Soviet weapons to the IRA. Through documents from the time and eyewitness testimonies, Mike finds out just how far this blending of fact and fiction went to distort what was really happening in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

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