Ireland was a very sensitive issue and was treated thus by the media, which has itself evolved and expanded since then. When the IRA (or whoever) had actions outside of Ireland - such as the Oxford Street bomb in McDonalds - they were covered fully and considerately.

Media coverage of everything has changed a great deal since the 1970's. Then you had the BBC, the ITN and some American channel if it was overseas, available to you, when they chose to broadcast it. Now, you have 24 hour coverage over something like 95% of the globe which you can access whenever you want to. Technology has improved so much that you can report on things as they happen. Images are shown now all day now, that even 10 years ago, would not have been shown before 9.00pm.

The media coverage given in Britain, to Thursdays' explosions was no greater, and a good deal less than that given to the World Trade Centre/Twin Towers destruction. I can't answer for other countries, but in Britain it was on 2 main channels, plus BBC News 24. There were other channels to watch and the radio stations continued to broadcast near normal programmes. Yesterday, although it was still a main topic, it was not dominating the whole bulletin.

LTS