‘The Vatican’s Media Politics: The Osservatore Romano's Coverage of the Irish Hunger Strike of 1981'

A SOCIOHISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE IRISH HUNGER STRIKES: THE OSSERVATORE ROMANO’S REPRESENTATION OF THE VATICAN POINT OF VIEW IN RESPECT OF THE NORTHERN IRELAND SITUATION IN 1980 AND 1981. This article will explore the Osservatore Romano’s coverage of the Northern Ireland hunger strikes, with the aim of understand, rethink and reconsider the role of the Vatican in the crisis 1980, 1981. Much of the debate among scholars on the hunger strikes stems from the wide variety of sources available. While this is a problem faced by all researchers, this is particularly true when we consider the different reactions of the Catholic Church to the Irish hunger strikes. Drawing on the field of media studies, this work will use both the quantitative and the qualitative approaches in its analysis: it will consider the tone and shape of the articles allowing to assess the degree of the press interest in the events and establish the initial findings on the various daily coverage policies. Furthermore, the analysis will incorporate “human” sources - such as oral history - as well as archival sources, which will bring the reflexion more broadly on the authoritative point of view of the Vatican on the situation and on the Osservatore as a media instrument and its impact in the public sphere. The conclusion will show how the published contents, history, and effects are closely monitored by the Vatican’s secretariat of state, and thus carefully reflect a precise political position: the Osservatore Romano is a clear example of a newspaper that belongs to a particular environment, conditioned by that same environment and a unique source, which has never been considered as a topic for study before.