RTE PrimeTime - Alcohol programme - poor journalism

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csirl

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Last night, there was a Prime Time special re: alcohol abuse.

The programme was quite sensationalist and tried to make out that the greater availability of alcohol in supermarkets, shops, garages etc. at lower prices was contributing to more alcohol abuse in our society.

However, what was lost in all this sensationalism was that Ireland's total alcohol consumption has dropped by a whopping 17% in recent years (according to Prime Time).

Obviously the greater availability of cheap alcohol has not contributed to an increase in consumption.

Is this an example of poor journalism trying to make a sensational story where none exists?
 
I didn't see the programme so can't comment on the journalism question. Delighted to hear that there has been an overall drop in consumption. Its a lot of the young people's attitude to drinking that worries me. Drinking competitions especially with shots seems so popular that its actually quite sad to see.
 
I watched the programme and a thought crossed my mind that there is a tendency to highlight the ones who go overboard and ignore those who are moderate.(The majority)

It seemed to me from one of the clips they showed that there was a huge amount of young people out having a great time and not ending up in hospital..

They obviously choose not to interview those who didnt binge or end up off their faces..for me that does appear sensationalist..or at least not balanced.
 
Prime Time's credibility is shot after the Fr. Kevin Reynolds libel. The alcohol programme was more of the same - clearly not a proper investigation but a polemic, and a very dodgy one at that.

As for their 'survey', do we really expect Prime Time to say 'our survey reveals that there is nothing here to worry about'?
 
On several occasions over the years, I've surprised people I've been speaking to (both at home and abroad) by telling them that 22% of Irish people don't drink at all.

I remember reading the statistic in a report some years ago, and it stuck in my mind.

I didn't see the Prime Time programme, but from the comments above, I guess that the percentage of non-drinkers was either not mentioned or glossed over (like the reduction in consumption)?
 
gipimann said:
On several occasions over the years, I've surprised people I've been speaking to (both at home and abroad) by telling them that 22% of Irish people don't drink at all.

I remember reading the statistic in a report some years ago, and it stuck in my mind.
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I suspect that this statistic no longer holds true. The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, the most (only?) high profile organisation for non-drinkers, has seen a virtual collapse in its membership in the past few decades. When juveniles and the elderly are excluded, their membership numbers are unfortunately very low.
 
T McGibney said:
I suspect that this statistic no longer holds true. The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, the most (only?) high profile organisation for non-drinkers, has seen a virtual collapse in its membership in the past few decades. When juveniles and the elderly are excluded, their membership numbers are unfortunately very low.
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19% according to the Institute of Public Health earlier this year. A lot of Tee-Totalers would not be members of an organisation but do so for personal reasons or from personal experience of the harm of alcohol (abuse)
 
T McGibney said:
I suspect that this statistic no longer holds true. The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, the most (only?) high profile organisation for non-drinkers, has seen a virtual collapse in its membership in the past few decades. When juveniles and the elderly are excluded, their membership numbers are unfortunately very low.
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Why would the majority of non-drinkers want to join an association that 'seeks to address alcohol-related problems in society, mainly through prayer, self-denial'??? Only Catholics need apply, and you need to commit to recite the Pioneer's Prayer twice daily! Ireland has moved on from those days.
 
Leo said:
Why would the majority of non-drinkers want to join an association that 'seeks to address alcohol-related problems in society, mainly through prayer, self-denial'??? Only Catholics need apply, and you need to commit to recite the Pioneer's Prayer twice daily! Ireland has moved on from those days.
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I don't know. I just cited it as an example of a teetotallers organisation whose collapse in membership numbers in the past 20-30 years ago may or may not be part of a wider trend.
 
Leo said:
Why would the majority of non-drinkers want to join an association that 'seeks to address alcohol-related problems in society, mainly through prayer, self-denial'??? Only Catholics need apply, and you need to commit to recite the Pioneer's Prayer twice daily! Ireland has moved on from those days.
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Moved on from what? Is becoming a Pioneer a bad thing? Or does any mention of any catholic organisation now warrant the 'Ireland has moved on' response?
 
Moved on from the days when life for the majority was tightly woven around the Catholic Church.

I never said that becoming a Pioneer was a bad thing. I just think suggesting that a decline in membership was symptomatic of society's attitude to alcohol is very wide of the mark, especially in light of all time lows in attendance.
 
Although the Pioneer TAA is a Catholic organisation, it is and was predominantly a social organisation, not a religious one. While some of its decline in membership numbers can be attributed to the waning influence of the Roman Church in the past 20-odd years, this is only part of the story. Their decline has been much more precipitous than the fall in Mass attendances, and in fact started at least a couple of decades before the scandal-ridden Church's decline in the 1990s.

In any event, the fact that the country's leading alcohol abstinence organisation has declined so sharply in numbers over the past 40-odd years is in itself clearly indicative of changing Irish public attitudes to alcohol.
 
Does it really say anything about peoples attitudes to drinking? If you don't like or want to drink then fair enough but joining some organisation just because you hold this view makes no sense to me or I would say to most people. I know plenty of non-drinkers but not one would call themselves a pioneer. The organisation just went out of fashion. It doesn't prove Ireland has turned into a nation of raging alcoholics.
 
Sunny said:
The organisation just went out of fashion. It doesn't prove Ireland has turned into a nation of raging alcoholics.
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I don't think anyone ever said that the Pioneers' decline turned us into a nation of winos. I still contend that it had some correlation with the % of teetotallers in the country, which is where the Pioneers came into the discussion.

I suspect myself that total abstinence from alcohol went out of fashion. That said, if it is still true to say that 20%-odd of the population are non-drinkers, that means my theory doesn't hold up and that there are a hell of a lot of teetotallers out there.
 
why are we all so hung up about alcohol anyway, we are irish after all and as a race we have always liked out drink. there are far bigger problems facing us than alcohol!
 
T McGibney said:
Although the Pioneer TAA is a Catholic organisation, it is and was predominantly a social organisation, not a religious one.
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How can you say it's not a religious organisation? They state their primary focus is to 'address alcohol-related problems in society mainly through prayeron prayer'! To join you must agree to recite their prayer daily? If that isn't a religious organisation....
 
Leo said:
How can you say it's not a religious organisation? They state their primary focus is to 'address alcohol-related problems in society mainly through prayeron prayer'! To join you must agree to recite their prayer daily? If that isn't a religious organisation....
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Despite what their website says it still seems to be predominantly a social organisation, for example they seem to run a lot more talent competitions and quizzes than Masses or prayer services. That said, I haven't been a member since I was a juvenile so maybe I don't know enough about them to comment definitively. Anyway debating the exact nature of the PTAA is well off topic.
 
i agree with posters above alcohol isnt irelands biggest social problem, suicide is. But the reasons for suicide are complex and there are no easy scapegoats or politicians to harass, therefore it is something that primetime dont do. Im also surprised the financial and economic crisis is not covered more on primetime, it seems that the journalists are out of their comfort zone because they dont understand financial issues. They prefer sensationalising social issues rather than hard fact finding
 
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