The 1960s

BBCNI programmes began to spend more time exploring the sources of community division. Issues examined included discrimination in employment, housing and cross-border co-operation. New faces arrived in the newsroom, including W.D. Flackes, Eric Waugh and Alan Reid - all of whom had been successful newspaper journalists. In 1968 images of confrontations at a civil rights demonstration in Londonderry brought the problems of Northern Ireland to the attention of an international audience.

1968 was also the year in which the NI Prime Minister, Captain Terence O'Neill, broadcast his 'Ulster at the Crossroads' address. In August 1969, in response to widespread violence, troops were deployed on the streets for the first time. In September, BBC1 introduced the network news magazine Nationwide and Scene Around Six began. Other major BBC developments in this decade included the introduction of BBC 2 in 1964, the first colour broadcasts in 1967 and the first local radio station the same year.