Broadcasting House, Belfast. Credit: Flickr / Man Vyi
In August 1969, rioting broke out in Derry. The unrest soon spread to Belfast. A young Catholic boy died after being shot by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The British army was called in. Northern Ireland was on the cusp of 'the Troubles', a conflict that would last 30 years and leave more than 3,000 people dead.
BBC Television in Belfast had the job of transmitting dispatches from the restive ‘province’ to the rest of the UK. As sectarian bloodshed broke out on the streets, local controller, Waldo Macguire, declared that the BBC should “modify the presentation" of the news "in a way designed to avoid extreme provocation".
