Editing Gerry Adams (section)

===Voice ban===
Adams's prominence as an Irish republican leader was increased by the [[1988–1994 British broadcasting voice restrictions]],<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4409447.stm The 'broadcast ban' on Sinn Fein] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216115142/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4409447.stm |date=16 February 2007 }}, BBC News, 5 April 2005.</ref> which were imposed by British Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] to "starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend".<ref>Edgerton, Gary [https://archive.today/20130105074546/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119204907/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Quelling the "Oxygen of Publicity": British Broadcasting and "The Troubles" During the Thatcher Years], ''The Journal of Popular Culture'', Volume 30, Issue 1, pp. 115–32.</ref> Thatcher was moved to act after BBC interviews of Martin McGuinness and Adams had been the focus of [[After Dark (TV series)#Gerry Adams|a row over an edition]] of ''[[After Dark (TV series)|After Dark]]'', a proposed [[Channel 4]] discussion programme which in the event was never made.<ref>[http://staff.stir.ac.uk/david.miller/news/IrishTimes-94.html Dubbing SF voices becomes the stuff of history]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050317093432/http://staff.stir.ac.uk/david.miller/news/IrishTimes-94.html |date=17 March 2005 }}, By Michael Foley ''[[The Irish Times]]'', 17 September 1994.</ref> While the ban covered 11 Irish political parties and paramilitary organisations, in practice it mostly affected Sinn Féin, the most prominent of these bodies.<ref>{{Cite news |last=FRANKEL |first=GLENN |date=18 November 1990 |title=Britain's Media Ban on Terrorist Groups Remains Controversial : Censorship: Voices of revered statesmen are silenced in history program broadcast to schoolchildren in Northern Ireland. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-18-mn-6586-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118045830/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-11-18/news/mn-6586_1_northern-ireland |archive-date=18 November 2018 |access-date=6 November 2017 |work=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |issn=0458-3035}}</ref>

A similar ban, known as [[Censorship in the Republic of Ireland#The Troubles|Section 31]], had been law in the Republic of Ireland since the 1970s. However, media outlets soon found ways around the bans. In the UK, this was initially by the use of subtitles, but later and more often by an actor reading words accompanied by video footage of the banned person speaking. Actors who voiced Adams included [[Stephen Rea]] and [[Paul Loughran]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 December 2011 |title=Paul Loughran |url=http://www.ulsteractors.com/l/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016061146/http://www.ulsteractors.com/l/ |archive-date=16 October 2015 |access-date=30 September 2015 |website=Ulsteractors.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Foy |first1=Ken |last2=Murphy |first2=Cormac |date=24 January 2014 |title=Dolours Price, former IRA terrorist and ex-wife of actor Stephen Rea, dies of suspected overdose |url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dolours-price-former-ira-terrorist-and-exwife-of-actor-stephen-rea-dies-of-suspected-overdose-29022340.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925022040/http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dolours-price-former-ira-terrorist-and-exwife-of-actor-stephen-rea-dies-of-suspected-overdose-29022340.html |archive-date=25 September 2015 |access-date=30 September 2015 |work=Irish Independent}}</ref> This loophole could not be used in the Republic, as word-for-word broadcasts were not allowed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 January 2014 |title=BBC News – Twenty years on: The lifting of the ban on broadcasting Sinn Féin |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25843314 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180415093527/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25843314 |archive-date=15 April 2018 |access-date=22 June 2018 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Instead, the banned speaker's words were summarised by the newsreader, over video of them speaking.

These bans were lampooned in cartoons, by comedians and satirical TV shows, such as ''[[Jasper Carrott]]'', ''[[Spitting Image]]'', and in ''[[The Day Today]]'', and were criticised by [[freedom of speech]] organisations and media personalities, including BBC Director General [[John Birt]] and BBC foreign editor [[John Simpson (journalist)|John Simpson]]. The Republic's ban was allowed to lapse in January 1994, and the British ban was lifted by Prime Minister [[John Major]] in September 1994.<ref>{{Cite news |title=CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1994 |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102135434/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm |archive-date=2 January 2019 |access-date=5 May 2014 |work=Conflict Archive on the Internet |publisher=University of Ulster}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=17 September 1994 |title=Britain Ends Broadcast Ban on Irish Extremists : Negotiations: Prime Minister Major also backs referendum on Northern Ireland's fate. Both moves indicate desire to move ahead on peace plan |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-17-mn-39492-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218125551/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-09-17/news/mn-39492_1_northern-ireland |archive-date=18 December 2013 |access-date=5 May 2014 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>