Normalisation and managing the message

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You couldn’t have failed to notice the English Queen has just completed a three day trip to the six counties.

A visit that occurred in such a ‘normalised’ environment today’s event in Armagh was flagged weeks in advance.

The media assisted with normalisation of the visit by pretty much ignoring Republican protests. So far the Newsletter is the only outlet giving the protests any real coverage, though they’ve downplayed the combined numbers attending demonstrations organised by both éirígí and RSF. (éirígí note the normalisation did not extend to the people of Armagh)

UTV News chose to cover the protests by lumping them in a section including some hoax bomb alerts (like the Newsletter), showing only a small section of the crowd, ignoring the rest and relying on the connotations brought to mind by using the throwaway tag ‘dissident Republicans.’ The BBC just completely ignored the whole issue.

So it all seems so normal but that’s only possible by ignoring the truth, something many other groups also found a convenient tactic.

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