Man suffers broken nose after assault
escalates tension,” said Professor Walker.
“We see it over Irish language issues, we see it over this issue of the present [funding over legacy inquests] and what we need at the moment is compromise, is moderate voices but your programme, in my opinion, provides a platform for extreme views.”
The professor accused Mr Nolan of “constant negativity,” saying the presenter needed to encourage politicians and not highlight their climbdowns in order to allow them to forge agreement.
Professor Walker said he had attempted to get onto the show on five occasions in the past week. Mr Nolan said there were hundreds of calls to the show every day.
“And your opinion should prevail and we should censor people who aren’t maybe professors of politics?” responded Mr Nolan.
“So someone would define what is moderate and you therefore want me to tell people who are phoning this show ‘sorry you are not moderate enough, we are keeping you off’. We don’t keep people off the air.”
Referencing comments made about every street sign in Northern Ireland being in Irish, Professor Walker said that when people come on with “extreme” statements then people should be brought on to challenge those views.
Prof Walker put it to Mr Nolan that the BBC is a public body, funded by the taxpayers, adding that “the overall good of the community is important, not the pride or the earlier positions of the parties”.
The professor added: “Sinn Fein and the DUP are trying to strike a deal, come up with a compromise, and the common approach of this programme has made that more difficult.”
Again Mr Nolan rejected the claims, saying statements were challenged routinely on his show, which included contributions from Alliance and the SDLP, and indeed the professor himself was on the show.
He said moderate views were “always welcome” on his programmes and it was not for him to “encourage” people to change their positions.
Mr Nolan said he subjected politicians to robust but fair questioning.
He added: “It is not true to say views go unchallenged. I would expect a person who is a professor at Queen’s University not to say things that are just factually untrue.”
Mr Nolan added: “We set out the promises that both these party leaders made to the electorate when they were seeking their vote. And we challenged them on why they were then breaking those promises.
“For you to suggest that is stoking up division ... are you telling me that is not the role of a political journalist?
“Why did they take the hard line in the first place, you might ask, rather than question the journalist?
“My job is to hold politicians accountable when they make promises, cast-iron guarantees to the public and a citizen votes on that basis, it is absolutely the role of the journalist.” A MAN suffered a broken nose and bruising to his body after a serious assault in Strabane.
Police are appealing for any witnesses to the incident in the Carlton Drive area earlier this week to contact them.
Detective Inspector Michael Winters said: “Police received a report at around 4:40pm on Wednesday, 21 February that a 58-year-old man had been assaulted during an altercation involving a number of males.
“A 59-year-old man subsequently arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm has since been released on bail, pending further police enquiries.
“We believe this assault occurred sometime between 1pm and 4:30pm.”