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Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
  Orange Standard

Press And Media Coverage Of The Twelfth

Article 4 ~ October 2003

There has been a slow but significant change of emphasis in the way the Press cover the 'Twelfth' demonstrations nowadays, compared to even a few decades ago, writes Observer.

A friend was kind enough to send me copies of weekly newspapers throughout Northern Ireland of the various Orange processions on the 12th July this year, and a number of copies of papers who report the Royal Black Institution demonstration in Scarva the following day.

An increasing number of weekly newspapers now tend to limit their coverage to photographs of the Orangemen and bands on parade, and of spectators lining the route and in the Field. These papers often carry interviews with people watching the parade, but the reader will search in vain in trying to find reports of the platform speeches in support of the various resolutions submitted to the brethren at the Field.

Indeed, many papers do not even carry the resolutions - an oversight which would certainly not have happened in the 1950s and 1960s. In those days editors of all weekly papers insisted on their reporters taking copious notes of what the speakers had to say and it would have been unthinkable for the speeches to have been reported in great depth at meetings.

I can still recall as a junior reporter, the feeling of satisfaction at being able to deciper notes taken of speeches at the Field in the early 1950s - notes often blurred by the rain which tended to fall just as the speeches were about to begin.

And also the sheer delight when some of the more approachable speakers were prepared to hand over copies of their speeches which meant that you did not have to rely on shorthand notes to ensure a good report.

These days readers will often search in vain through the issue of the paper covering the Twelfth and find that they cannot find any report of the proceedings in the Field.

Far be it for me to criticise newspaper editors who know what best serves the needs of their paper and its readers. But somehow I feel that by not reporting the proceedings on the platform, some papers are depriving not only today's readers, but those of future generations of the opportunity to guage what are the feelings of the Orange Order or at least its local county officers on what they feel about matters concerning the Order and indeed the Protestant churches.

Historians often scour the columns of past newspapers to ascertain what the feelings of the Order were on matters of importance. In compilling some recent articles for the Standard I researched the files of the Portadown and Lurgan papers for the year 1903 when Brownlow House in Lurgan became an Orange Hall - the largest in the world it is often claimed.

Speakers on that platform stressed opposition to Home Rule, and they paid tribute to the courage of Irish soldiers, many of them Orangemen, who had fought in the recent Boer War.

Likewise, perusing the files of the Belfast papers and some provincial papers for the 1920-22 period, I found it fascinating to read the speeches of Orangemen in the various Fields. Those from the North welcomed the new State of Northern Ireland, seeing in it the guarantee of the continuation of the liberties enjoyed by British subjects.

On the other hand, several Southern Orangemen underlined the plight of the Southern Unionists and Protestants who had been "thrown to the wolves" by the British Government, and left to the tender mercies of the new Irish Free State.

In more recent times, it is interesting to note that the Portadown News in July 1963 reported speakers in the Field as lauding the principles and objectives of the British Commonwealth, and urging that Britain should prefer Canada, Australia and New Zealand to the former enemies on the European Continent.

The speeches made at Twelfth platforms are not just predictably about the need to protect the Protestant religion, but they also reflect the social issues and feelings of the period in which they were delivered.

By not reporting the speeches, those newspapers who prefer to cover the Twelfth with pages of photographs are doing a dis-service to those who study the attitudes of Orangemen and their supporters at a particular period in history.

I can understand the feelings of some Orangemen who are critical of the link between the Orange Order and the Ulster Unionist Party, and indeed those Orangemen who feel that platform proceedings should be confined to a religious service.

But it has been a long tradition for the Press to report Orange speeches, and those papers now confining their coverage to 'smart' stories and photographs are missing out on a vital aspect of the Order and its business.

In fairness, there are quite a few Ulster weekly papers still reporting the speeches and carrying the resolutions, and the editors of those publications obviously feel there is still a great interest in these.

It is not the Order's business to tell the Press how to go about its business. All we ask for is fair coverage of our demonstrations and events, and in fairness, the coverage this year in the Belfast and provincial press was excellent.

Full marks to both local television stations for their coverage of parades throughout the country. The BBC's decision a few years ago to restore the 'live' hour long programme of the Belfast parade has been vindicated once again. This year the pictures were terrific, and the expert analysis of banners by Orange historian Clifford Smyth was spot on.

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