The 1990s

The faltering progress towards peace dominated the news agenda. President Bill Clinton's visit to Belfast in 1995 led to the most extensive outside broadcast coverage ever mounted in Northern Ireland. In 1998, the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement was signed but that year also saw the Omagh bombing by the Real IRA. The 1990s was a decade of innovation and transformation for the BBC. The arrival of digital technology and the internet marked a new era for broadcasting.

During this decade BBC World was launched and the BBC began its online news service. A twenty-four hour news channel was also introduced. On local television Inside Ulster was replaced by a new nightly programme, BBC Newsline which was broadcast at 6.30 each evening. The late 1990s also saw significant additional BBC investment in news and current affairs programming in Northern Ireland.