BBCNI has come in for scathing criticism over its coverage of a police apology to the family of a child killed in the Divis/Falls pogrom of August 1969.
BBC News NI reported yesterday that nine-year-old Patrick Rooney was killed by a “stray bullet” in his Divis Flats home on August 15, 1969.
Victims’ group Relatives for Justice (RFJ) described the BBCNI claim as “a shame”. They said that since the RUC fired over 200 rounds from a Browning heavy machine-gun into Divis Flats on the evening there was “nothing stray about it.”
Meanwhile, Robin Livingstone, who was burned out of his Divis home on the same evening as Patrick Rooney was killed, said a further BBCNI claim that the RUC “had opened fire from vehicle-mounted machine guns to disperse rioters” was an unattributed claim by the RUC presented as fact and “an insult to every resident of the area that night”.
At the High Court on Thursday, the PSNI apologised to the Rooney family and agreed to pay “significant compensation” for the killing of Patrick.
VICTIM: Patrick Rooney (9) was shot with a round from an RUC heavy machine-gun
But what should have been a day of closure, reflection and relief for the Rooney family was marred by a row over BBCNI reporting highly disputed contemporaneous RUC claims about the killing of the schoolboy as fact.
RFJ said on social media: “What a shame BBCNI chose to describe the RUC murder of Patrick Rooney, a nine-year-old child killed in his own home, as a result of a ‘stray bullet’.
“For clarity, the only ‘disturbance’ that night was a loyalist/RUC pogrom on the lower Falls community, with the RUC firing over 200 bullets from a machine gun into civilian homes. There was nothing stray about it. Trooper Hugh McCabe was also killed by the RUC that night. Historical clarification must be just that. It has been an honour and a privilege to work with the Rooney family for many decades.”
In another item, BBCNI reported as fact that the RUC had fired hundreds of rounds from heavy machine guns into a flats complex “to disperse rioters”.
BBCNI reported: “Nine-year-old Patrick Rooney, the oldest of six, was shot in front of the rest of his family while taking shelter in a bedroom in the Divis Flats in August 1969.
“Outside, Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers had opened fire from vehicle-mounted machine guns to disperse rioters.”
That BBCNI claim has prompted a response from Robin Livingstone, who was fleeing his burning Dover Street home with his family at the same time as the RUC were firing heavy rounds into Divis Flats. Robin – who’s group editor of the Belfast Media Group – said BBCNI had reported a bitterly contested contemporaneous claim by the RUC as fact. He said the claim should either be withdrawn or attributed.
“Aside from the highly disputed nature of the RUC’s self-serving claim, it’s almost surreal that the BBC would report as though it were the most natural thing in the world that heavy live rounds were fired by the RUC to disperse rioters," he said. "That’s murderous irresponsibility, not crowd control.
“BBCNI have omitted the crucial fact that the only people who claimed that live rounds were fired to disperse rioters that night were the people who killed Patrick Rooney – the RUC. Without that crucial attribution, this stands as a statement of fact that has the BBC imprimatur. It is not fact. It is highly partial.”
Mr Livingstone said the BBCNI claim that the RUC was attempting to “disperse rioters” not only gave the RUC an “out” for what he said was their “criminal behaviour” that night, but it also “casts a shadow over the people of the district”.
He continued: “The RUC issued the claim about rioters in order to give themselves an out for their criminal behaviour. Not only has the BBC repeated that claim, it has published it as established fact without attributing it to the RUC. The suggestion that the RUC fired heavy machine-gun fire to dispel rioters is not only a slap in the face to the very idea of law and order, it casts a shadow over the people of the district who were the victims and the ones under attack and is a grave insult to every resident of the area that night.”
We’ve asked BBCNI to comment.
