# Has journalism failed us?



## DerKaiser (6 Jan 2010)

Just an interesting thought I had.

I often moan about the lack of depth of knowledge of some of our most prominent journalists.

We talk about the systemic failure of the economy and look for scapegoats.

We start with builders. many of them are going bust with huge debts and should have known better i.e. where did they think all the demand for 100,000 new units per year was going to come from?

But they could not have got themselves in the mess they were in without the vast amounts of money thrown at them by the banks. Who do we blame for this? Bank staff or shareholders or even debt holders?

The banks could not have been allowed get us into this mess if they had been regulated properly, so staff at the regulator and the government would seem culpable here.

Finally though, we got the government we voted for and accepted the way things were going for most of the decade. How did we get it all so wrong? Were our attitudes wrong or were we simply not giventhe information we required from those responsible for informing the public i.e. the journalists?

Could it be that journalism in this country is dominated by people incapable of giving us a critical, unbiased and unsensational analysis of the state of things?


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## Chris (6 Jan 2010)

I think you make a very good point, but I don't think it is just journalism, but the media in general. While journalists were first on the band wagon, there were plenty of TV shows that followed, especially the ones now adequately classified as property porn (self build shows, renovation shows, propeorty ladder shows, proporty abroad shows, you name it).
There was plenty of opportunity to expose fallacies in the economic system. But when King Berti turned around and said that if you talk down the economy you might as well commit suicide, the media jumped on the inadequacy of the suicide part, not the questioning the economy part.
I gave up on local journalism for everything economic a long time ago. As you point out, there is no balanced coverage, just two sides of one coin.


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## canicemcavoy (6 Jan 2010)

I'm delighted to hear from an interview on Newstalk that Liz O'Kane is planning to become a children's tennis coach.

One down, many more to go.


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## bullworth (6 Jan 2010)

Chris said:


> I think you make a very good point, but I don't think it is just journalism, but the media in general. While journalists were first on the band wagon, there were plenty of TV shows that followed, especially the ones now adequately classified as property porn (self build shows, renovation shows, propeorty ladder shows, proporty abroad shows, you name it).



I don't think TV which is expected to be mostly  entertainment has the same level of hypocritical piety as the newspapers which claim to inform us. Neither did TV make so much money from property supplements and advertising. The print media here on the other hand started to depend upon it.


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## Mpsox (6 Jan 2010)

Although there are exceptions (Olivia O'Leary for example), overall I beleive the quality of journalism in Ireland is very poor. Take the recent Van Morrison story, all journalists did there was report something that was on a website, they did not attempt to verify it.

I listen to Today FM in the morning in the car and cringe when I hear some of their news reporting, for example, before Christmas it was reporting the social partner talks as being almost solely about preventing a one day strike and when they broke down, they gave the impression that the whole country was going out on strike. Their sports department is often no better, Munster's new temporary prop for example was reported as a replacement for Jerry Flannary

There are too many journalists in Ireland who are too lazy to check the basic facts of their story.


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## amgd28 (6 Jan 2010)

Ever it has been thus.
100 years ago in Britain, the middle-class papers were full of populist guff to shift more papers (they even got a lot of blame for initiating the First World War due to the tensions they stoked up)
Go back further or in different countries and you'll see the same.

Bottom line is journalists just need copy, are under lots of deadline pressure, the proprietors are in the business of driving readership/viewership/listenership to shift more advertising and actually make a few quid

Bottom line, there's very little money, generally speaking, in commitment to good journalism. At the end of the day, if its of any investigative quality it will step on toes that the proprietor doesn't want stepped on, and gets spiked. So if you begin as a high-minded journalism, I'd say the cynicism sets in fairly quick....


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## mathepac (6 Jan 2010)

Mpsox said:


> ... There are too many journalists in Ireland who are too lazy to check the basic facts of their story.


I disagree - there too few journalists in Ireland. Being on the telly with shiny teeth and cleavage does not qualify anyone as a journalist, least of all the dim-wit talking-heads I see reading from teleprompters with blank bits of paper in their hands.

"Has journalism failed us?" - it has certainly been replaced by PR, which as someone said recently is all about "tits and teeth". Perception is no longer important, it is everything.


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## PyritePete (6 Jan 2010)

mathepac said:


> I disagree - there too few journalists in Ireland. Being on the telly with shiny teeth and cleavage does not qualify anyone as a journalist, .
> 
> Thinking of anyone in particular ?
> 
> THe recent TV3 breaking news story regarding Brian Lenihan was appalling


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## onq (6 Jan 2010)

mathepac said:


> I disagree - there too few journalists in Ireland. Being on the telly with shiny teeth and cleavage does not qualify anyone as a journalist, least of all the dim-wit talking-heads I see reading from teleprompters with blank bits of paper in their hands.
> 
> "Has journalism failed us?" - it has certainly been replaced by PR, which as someone said recently is all about "tits and teeth". Perception is no longer important, it is everything.



You're not really <splutter!> David McWilliams in disguise are you???!!!!!

ONQ.


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## mathepac (6 Jan 2010)

PyritePete said:


> ... THe recent TV3 breaking news story regarding Brian Lenihan was appalling


That was a FF PR tour de force, IMHO. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wish Mr. Lenihan's illness on anyone and it was tragic to hear of someone in any walk of life being diagnosed with a dreaded serious illness.

The country needs a hero in this time of crisis and Biffo ain't it, therefore enter Auntie Mary's heroic Brian. TV3 breaks the story and the country erupts in a paroxysm of indignation, rushing to poor sick Brian's defence. Then some slick FF PR spots the opportunity and briefs the print boys and girls. "Briano strikes back" scream the morning headlines in the tabloids and broadsheets, the radio news gets booked, the Joe Show trots out Aunty Mary, the choked-up friends, supporters, brave fellow sufferers, recovered patients and Bingo!, Briano wins the X-Factor, The Apprentice, The Lotto and an All Star together.

Was it all planned? I dunno. Was it all just coincidence? Not by a long chalk. Was it opportunistic? You bet and someone has the FF PR contract in perpetuity. Were the phone-ins to the Joe Show genuine? Undoubtedly some were, and their truly heroic stories unfortunately were used to further a political end.

Was any of it journalism? Not one bit of it.  PR? Yes, almost all of it, IMHO.

(sits back and waits to be killed (metaphorically, I hope)).


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## mathepac (6 Jan 2010)

onq said:


> You're not really <splutter!> David McWilliams in disguise are you???!!!!! ...


Nah, but Mr McWilliams and I have a lot in common, including similar names. Once he reaches my advanced years, Mr McWilliams will have earned the right to display the same level of cynicism, sorry I meant  realism,   I do.


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## PyritePete (6 Jan 2010)

mathepac said:


> That was a FF PR tour de force, IMHO. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wish Mr. Lenihan's illness on anyone and it was tragic to hear of someone in any walk of life being diagnosed with the dreaded cancer illness.
> 
> +1
> 
> ...


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## Chris (7 Jan 2010)

mathepac said:


> Was it all planned? I dunno. Was it all just coincidence? Not by a long chalk. Was it opportunistic? You bet and someone has the FF PR contract in perpetuity. Were the phone-ins to the Joe Show genuine? Undoubtedly some were, and their truly heroic stories unfortunately were used to further a political end.
> 
> Was any of it journalism? Not one bit of it.  PR? Yes, almost all of it, IMHO.
> 
> (sits back and waits to be killed (metaphorically, I hope)).



Very very good observation!!!!



mathepac said:


> Nah, but Mr McWilliams and I have a lot in common, including similar names. Once he reaches my advanced years, Mr McWilliams will have earned the right to display the same level of cynicism, sorry I meant  realism,   I do.



"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who haven't got it." George Bernard Shaw


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## Bronte (7 Jan 2010)

I think a better question would be have we failed ourselves?


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## zztop (7 Jan 2010)

When all the bankers books are written who is going to write the book
on who was the genius behind the big con campaign that ensured that
wage levels would be cut to save the country.24bn deficit and it barely
gets a mention on the news.A year ago I noticed a report mentioning that
an employer had let 4 people go.
Now the real people in charge are happy with their PR campaign that they
got their simplistic answers to difficult questions.I ve reverted to the Irish
Times as the last resort for journalism..........................hah


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