As violence escalated in the Northern Irish conflict in the 1970s and 1980s, the governments in both Dublin and London implemented restrictions on the media. In the Republic of Ireland, orders issued under the 1960 Broadcasting Authority Act prevented interviews or reports of interviews with the IRA, other parliamentary organisations, and Sinn Féinmembers, from being broadcast on radio or television, from 1972 to 1994. A similar ban operated in the UK from 1988 to 1994, with broadcasters famously circumventing the legislation by recruiting actors to dub the voices of banned speakers.

While some deemed these measures a legitimate method "to deny this easy platform to those who use it to propagate terrorism", others declared censorship to be "incompatible with a free society" and mounted unsuccessful legal challenges. Looking back at this era in the context of a new global media landscape, and in the centenary year of the founding of the BBC, we ask a panel of journalists, academics, and legal experts: were the broadcasting bans a proportionate response or a dangerous precedent? Do such restrictions protect or undermine democracy, and is media censorship ever justified?

The event is hosted by the Schuler Democracy Forum in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and Boston College. Please note: 1pm start time is EST
 https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/event.php?eventid=163629106