Almost every time acts of terrorist violence have occurred in Northern Ireland (and regardless of whether it was the IRA or the Protestant paramilitaries who were responsible), the victims have habitually accepted the official reports of what happened. In the case of the Omagh bombing (August 15, 1998), when families did not blithely or blindly accept the made-for-TV spin, and did conduct a private investigation into the reasons for the atrocity, we find the whole propaganda machinery being tossed out the window in no time at all.