BBC Northern Ireland has been slammed by the Orange Order and unionists after a letter from the broadcast organisation’s Interim Director confirmed its intention to cut the live coverage of the Belfast Twelfth parade.
For many years BBC NI have broadcast live as the Orange Order’s largest parade in the province made its way through the streets of Belfast.
BBC NI Interim Director Adam Smyth acknowledged that the decision to not provide a live broadcast of the Twelfth celebrations in the city “may be disappointing for some people,” but the decision was made “with careful consideration and based on all usual editorial considerations”.
Mr Smyth said BBC NI plan to broadcast a one hour long programme during the evening, saying “we think there is particular value in seeking to better/more fully reflect Orange Order events across the region and that our highlights programme, which has been popular with local audiences, is the best means of achieving this objective.”
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland issued a statement in response to the decision. A spokesperson said:
“This decision by BBC NI was reached without meaningful discussion or consultation with the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland and is immensely disappointing and frustrating, not only for our members but for the many members of the public who watch the programme each year.
“We became aware of the plans to cancel the live broadcast during our annual Twelfth of July planning meeting with BBC NI staff.
“The Grand Secretary Rev. Mervyn Gibson and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, a former Assistant Grand Master and DUP Leader, then met with Interim Director of BBC Northern Ireland Adam Smyth and asked him to reconsider this decision.
“The BBC is a public broadcasting service and to cancel live coverage of the Twelfth of July - the biggest cultural event in Northern Ireland with tens of thousands taking part and hundreds of thousands more watching at the eighteen host venues defies logic.
“We pointed out many people cannot attend Twelfth of July parades for a range of reasons. Many are housebound due to illness or old age while others are in nursing homes they are the people who will be impacted most by this decision.
“It is hard to accept this as anything other than a further snub to the wider Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist Community and our culture.”
Political voices have also been raised in opposition to the move by BBC NI.
Ian Paisley MP stated he is to raise the matter with UK government minister Nadine Dorries, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Ms Dorries is currently undertaking a review of the BBC across the UK.
Mid and East Antrim TUV councillor, Matthew Armstrong also responded to the BBC announcement and said binning live coverage of the Twelfth would be symptomatic of anti-Unionist BBC culture.
Cllr Armstrong said:
“The BBC decision to bin live coverage of the Twelfth demonstrations speaks to an organisation which is failing in its duty as a public service broadcaster and confirming its anti-Unionist bias. Here we have an organisation which can find time for countless hours of programming which is exclusively of interest to the Nationalist community with wall to wall coverage of GAA events and Irish language programs broadcast on both radio and TV yet it cannot tolerate an single hour of live coverage of an expressly Unionist and British event. It is scandalous, not least because there is no suggestion of coverage of anything related to the Nationalist tradition being scaled back.
“The Twelfth of July is our national holiday. It is one of the largest cultural events in Europe. BBC Northern Ireland should be looking it as an opportunity to showcase Northern Ireland’s artistic and musical talent to the world. But their anti-Unionist bigotry prevents them from doing so.
“The live coverage of the Twelfth is valued and appreciated by many elderly and infirm folk who cannot make it out to their own demonstration. This decision is a slap in the face for them.
“Coming as it does after the BBC’s scandalous decision to avoid covering the largest parade seen in Northern Ireland in at least a decade and its still unexplained decision to broadcast a tricolour as representative of Northern Ireland during an event to mark HM the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee - something we don't even know if anyone is being disciplined for - this will compound the belief that the BBC is one-sided and incapable of reflecting the reality that the Orange, Unionist and Protestant community exists in Northern Ireland. This is particularly galling when one considers how the BBC likes to obsess about divinity and inclusion on it's output. The reality is that when it comes to much BBC output the one element of diversity they exclude is the most important - diversity of thought and opinion.”
Adam Smyth’s letter in full
We welcomed having the opportunity to chat with you about the BBC's plans for coverage of this year's Orange Order demonstrations on 12 July. It was a wide-ranging and informative conversation and we'll want to engage further with both of you about issues around community and cultural diversity on the BBC and in the context of other work that we plan to do in this area - and your positive comments about some of our recent programmes and series.
We said that we would reflect on the points that you had made about the return of live BBC television coverage of the Belfast demonstration in addition to our other broadcast plans, including an hour-long programme featuring stories, people and events at eight regional locations.
We think there is particular value in seeking to better/more fully reflect Orange Order events across the region and that our highlights programme, which has been popular with local audiences, is the best means of achieving this objective. The Belfast demonstration will, of course, be included within it. And this coverage will be complemented by reports on the BBC's news services across radio, television and online.
Our late evening programme involves significant logistical effort and resource. Its scheduling and availability on iPlayer gives us the ability to reach a larger audience and we think that its format allows us to do much more than we can with live coverage of a single event.
We know that our decision not to resume live television coverage of the Belfast demonstration may be disappointing for some people and have made this decision with careful consideration and based on all usual editorial considerations.
We will also want to explore how we can make audiences aware of other BBC programmes about the Orange tradition, coinciding with this year's 12 July programming and will confirm these and other broadcast details shortly.
We recognise the importance of 12 July events for those taking part and many others within our local community. This is something that we will properly reflect within our output, seeking to describe and explain the significance of what's happening and to make it more generally accessible, including to those with other backgrounds and beliefs.
Our production teams have been grateful for the support that they've received from the Orange Order in our coverage of previous 12 July demonstrations and we hope that this is something that the Institution will feel able to facilitate, helping BBC staff in their efforts to capture the colour, diversity and importance of these events.
Yours sincerely,
Adam Smyth
Interim Director - BBC Northern Ireland