Contributor:

Professor Robert Savage

Talk Title

Broadcasting and the Border: How partition influenced broadcasting on the island of Ireland

Talk Synopsis:

This talk explores the development of broadcasting in Ireland during the 1920s and how the new radio stations in Belfast and Dublin were affected (and constrained) by politics. It describes the growing popularity and influence of broadcast services and the impact of new technologies, competition and wider social changes on the work of programme-makers in the BBC and RTÉ. It reflects critically on aspects of editorial decision-making and output by both broadcasters, but suggests that despite ‘all of [their] inevitable failures and shortcomings, ‘independent public service media’ remain ‘an indispensable component of any truly democratic society.’

Short biography:

Professor Robert Savage is the Director of the Boston College Irish Studies Program and a member of the university’s History Department faculty.

Further Reading:

The BBC's Irish Troubles, Television, Conflict and Northern Ireland – Robert Savage