1988–94 British broadcasting voice restrictions

Broadcast ban
Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin president, seen here in 2001, was one of the people affected by the restrictions enacted in 1988.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Territorial extent	England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Enacted by	Douglas Hurd
Date enacted	19 October 1988
Date commenced	19 October 1988
Date of expiry	16 September 1994
Administered by	Home Office
Related legislation
Broadcasting Act 1981

From October 1988 to September 1994 the voices of representatives from Sinn Féin and several Irish republican and loyalist groups were banned by the British government from being broadcast on television and radio in the United Kingdom. The restrictions, announced by the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, on 19 October 1988, covered eleven organisations based in Northern Ireland and followed a heightened period of violence in the history of the Troubles, as well as the government's belief in a need to prevent Sinn Féin from using the media for political advantage.

Broadcasters quickly found ways around the ban, chiefly by dubbing the voice of anyone who was prevented from speaking with the voice of an actor. The legislation did not apply during election campaigns, and under certain other circumstances. The restrictions caused difficulties for British journalists who objected to censorship in various other countries, such as Iraq and India. The Republic of Ireland had its own similar legislation that banned anyone with links to paramilitary groups from the airwaves, but repealed this in January 1994. This added pressure on the British government to do likewise. The broadcast ban was finally lifted on 16 September 1994, a fortnight after the first Provisional Irish Republican Army ceasefire.

Throughout the Troubles, UK broadcasters were regularly required to stop or postpone the broadcast of documentaries and other programmes relating to Ireland. One of the most prominent instances of this was the 1985 Real Lives documentary for the BBC, At the Edge of the Union. The programme featured extensive footage of Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness and the Democratic Unionist Party's Gregory Campbell discussing the Troubles, and following direct intervention by the government it was temporarily blocked from being aired. The incident led to a one-day strike by members of the National Union of Journalists, who walked out in protest that the BBC's independence was being undermined.