Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“I know from the calls and messages which my offices have received over the last few days that many people across Northern Ireland are disgusted with how the media have eulogised Martin McGuinness. Equally they have appreciated the fact that TUV has refused to blow the knee to the prevailing mood and spoken clearly about McGuinness’s bloody legacy.
“However, I have to say that the BBC took things to a new level when they decided to run a report on a service for victims of IRA violence which had a headline in which the words innocent victims were placed in quotation marks.
“TUV has made an official complaint to the BBC asking why they believed quotation marks were necessary. It is incumbent upon the BBC to explain who among the victims who attended the service lead them to qualify the term innocent victims by use of quotation marks both in the headline and body of their report.
“It is telling that the BBC believe no such qualification is needed in their lead story when they describe McGuinness as a peace maker.
“It is equally telling that when the BBC newsroom was rung to make a complaint that the person who answered said they were “very busy covering the McGuinness funeral.”