BBC and UTV news staff went on strike in protest at the banning of a BBC documentary featuring Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness.
'At the Edge of the Union' was supposed to air as part of the 'Real Lives' series, until BBC governors cancelled it as a result of political pressure. BBC staff were joined on the picket line by their independent television colleagues, which meant there was no news coverage on radio or television throughout the UK on 7 August 1985.
David Ross visited the picket line outside the Belfast Headquarters of the BBC, where the banned programme was on public view.
Chris Moore of the NUJ explains that the main issue is censorship and interference.
The issue isn't actually Sinn Féin, it's this question of censorship, and what we're saying to the people of Northern Ireland, unionist and nationalist, is this: are you prepared in the future, to have broadcast on the BBC by journalists only those views approved of by the government of the day?
An RTÉ News report from 7 August 1985. The reporter is David Ross.
