The Media on the Rock: the Media and the Gibraltar Killings

Abstract

Abstract The Gibraltar shootings of three members of the Irish Republican Army, Mairead Farrell, Danny McCann and Seán Savage, occurred at approximately 15.41 hours on Sunday, March 6 1988. The shootings were carried prominently in all parts of the British media on the Sunday night and Monday morning. These reports included statements, such as those above, which were simply untrue. The members of the IRA unit were shot not by ‘police’ but by the SAS. A 500-pound car bomb (or a bomb of any other size) had not been found, nor had this non-existent bomb been defused by ‘explosives experts’ or even by ‘robots’. There was no ‘shoot-out’ or ‘fierce gun battle’ because, in fact, Farrell, McCann and Savage were not armed.