Berties remarks regarding suicide

The reaction from the groups in cases like these is often generated by the media.

Within the hour of any comment like Ahern's the media are getting unprepared representatives of groups on the phone, telling them of the quote.
Then during the interview the preferably media-inexperienced representative is taken advantage of by having words placed in his mouth.

For example they'll be asked do they condemn the statement, the media savvy answer usually not so black and white as a condemnation or non condemnation, but normal people will tend to agree not realizing the interviewer has no interest to the answer in its own context but will use it to create an airwave filling headline using the interviewer's own words.

Once they've the headline the whole thing can be dragged out for a couple days with the inevitable apology story and then the equally inevitable "did the apology go far enough" story.

I find this interviewing technique reprehensible - any organization especially small ones should be given time to take a considered position and put it forward using their own words.

ashambles said:

The reaction from the groups in cases like these is often generated by the media.

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Ah look. The media were present anyway at the ICTU conference to report on Bertie's speech. RTÉ didn't send a reporter and camera team to Bundoran on the off chance that he would make a stupid remark. The remarks on suicide were highly newsworthy.

Your remarks are in my view completely speculative and highly patronising towards the groups concerned, who are doing valuable work which the state should be supporting, not undermining in the way Bertie did.

Sometimes the media get it wrong, in recent times in particular the reprehensible reporting by some papers of Liam Lawlor's death.

In this case, however, as in so many others, Bertie is just trying to shoot the messenger.

In point of fact, here is what Georgina Clare, chief executive of the depression support organisation Aware said with regard to Bertie's remarks: "The comments show a gross lack of understanding of suicide". That sounds pretty "black and white" to me and not in any way as though Ms Clare was being fed a line by the reporter . . .

I'll leave the last word on this topic to Pat O'Connor, coroner for East Mayo, who said in court yesterday:

"Ill-considered, off-the-cuff remarks by political leaders of the country, which may be due to a lack of personal understanding and education, are distinctly unhelpful and, above all, insulting to all of those many bereaved families who have been left to ask why such a death occurred.

Such comments and references to suicide suggest a lack of appreciation about the nature of the suicide and above all a lack of appreciation of the grieving of those families left to suffer following such a death."