protests from other contributors. The Independent Broadcasting Authority said then that it would have banned Mr Adams on the grounds that his views were offensive to public feeling. Channel 4 avoided a dispute with the IBA by dropping the programme, saying it had only wanted Mr Adams to appear if a suitable context could be found and that, at such short notice, it had been impossible to achieve that." The Guardian wrote: The Daily Telegraph wrote: Channel 4's former Chief Executive, Jeremy Isaacs, speaking at a public lecture that month, said he would have given the After Dark air-time to Adams: "Although I sympathise with what must have been a difficult decision, broadcasters are always going to be accused of self-censorship. Yasser Arafat was allowed on Channel 4 because he happened to represent a lot of people but I knew this would lead to criticism because he is one of many who believe it is right to use any means of obtaining power". The row was later placed in context by the academic study The Media and Northern Ireland: An alternative view is provided by Laura K. Donohue (writing in the Cardozo Law Review ), who summarises Professor Keith Ewing and Conor Gearty as follows: Following a debate in the House of Commons Liz Forgan of Channel 4 challenged this account in a letter to The Times: The producer later commented in an article in Lobster magazine: Series Three Tony Benn and "Out of Bounds" The first programme of the third series was titled Out of Bounds: "1988 was the year of the tri-centenary of the Bill of Rights, yet in May 1989, in the shadowy studio of Channel 4's After Dark programme, a group of former British and US intelligence agents discussed the merits and evils of new legislation on official secrets. When this legislation completes its processes through Parliament such a gathering is likely to become illegal." The Financial Times wrote: Tony Benn wrote in his diary, later published as The End of an Era: Asked during the course of the programme if the secret service should be democratically accountable Lord Dacre replied: The Listener magazine described the programme: Richard Norton-Taylor reported on guests who did not appear because of concerns about contempt of court: "Michael Randle and Pat Pottle, who admitted helping the spy, George Blake, escape from prison in 1966... have been dropped from the... programme...