Media prophesy

brianthebard

How much responsibility does the media have with regard to things like the recent recession, elections, high profile firings, etc?
Obviously I'm not suggesting that the media caused the sub prime problems, but how much of an influence must it have had on the markets, telling each and every trader or broker that we were headed for a recession one way or the other?
Likewise elections, do they play an active part in who gets elected? We saw Clintons resurgence a few weeks ago prove most of the media outlets wrong, but on other occaisons (perhaps recent gen election) they might have held sway.
Generally I groan and change channel when I see/hear predictions of this kind, but I'd be interested to see how much power people feel the media have over issues like this.

constitutionus

none.

the media like to think they have alot more power than they actually have but the reality is very different. in fact if the last two referendum are anything to go by the media cant even call public sentiment. i dont know whether its a combination of arrogance and snobbery or a genuine delusion that they think speak for all of us on certain issues but if anything the media are following as opposed to leading societal concerns. sometimes by a factor of years

take your point about the stock market. i dont know a SINGLE stockbroker that'll sell their stocks on a journos say so, but i know alot who will on the back of the fact that theres god knows how many hundreds of BILLIONs in unreclaimable dept out there and no one knows where it is, THATS why investers are flooding into gold and silver. interestingly something the papers havent covered, suficing to just meniton the drop in stocks.

ditto for the housing market. the newspapers are really only commenting now but its been obvious to anyone with property whats been going on since LAST YEAR when macdowel first tried to tackle stamp duty. all the positive spin by the dan maclaughlins of the world didnt change that and wont.

the media and government like to put out the spin that we can talk ourselves into a recesion but the fact is most people live in the real world and KNOW whats going on around them. they know the bubble has burst and are waiting to see how it setlle. like wise if the media was going on about a bust and they didnt feel one theyd continues to spend confounding the critics. they certainly arent likely to take the opinon of a handsomely paid college boy who isnt in their positon as seriously as their own fiscal reality. its the same in regards to politics. people know the difference between bertie and their local politician and they'll punish or reward them based on how they preform for them, not what they can plainly see is a hack with an agenda.

this is the most significant point here as if the media did have the clout you alluded to we SHOULD have a different government now.

and we dont

i ll be honest this is my main problem with the mainstream media now. theyve become lazy, complacent and depend far too much on opinion than actual quality investigative reporting . the need to get off their arses out of their plush offices and TALK to people instead of relying on their rolodexe's of hasbeens reflective of the last millenium. theres a seachange going on now in regards to the demographics of this country and its NOT being reflected in the media.

at the end of the day the medias job is to report the news, not MAKE it. to accuratley reflect whats going on in society and not change it to its liking. i honestly think by trying the latter theyre putting themselves in the postion where they just cant do their jobs anymore.

jdivision

constitutionus, most of the papers supported FF in last election. News International did so in its entirety, INM did in the majority and The Sindo realised afterwards it had ballsed up and switched sides. The SBP coverage leaned towards retaining current govt as did Tribunes.
The reality is that the papers had a go at FF because under Bertie their election strategy was a shambles, when Cowen et al took control they supported them.
As for money going into silver and gold, SBP and other business papers in Britain have covered this.
As for views on referenda et al, I think newspapers will always publish stuff that corresponds with their viewpoint. They have no need to be balanced and every newspaper has a political outlook.

OP I work in journalism and yes I do think it has an influence. The Indo coming out for FF on eve of election 11 years ago did swing the vote, as did The Sun deciding not to back Neil Kinnock in his last election as Labour leader in Britain. Likewise their decision to back Tony Blair in next election played a part.

Don't hold me to this but I seem to remember RTE was criticised for giving too much coverage to the pro side before the divorce referandum. Didn't get much attention because criticism was published several months after it was passed.

On the other hand I don't want to sound like the media tells us what to say and do. Some of the moral crusades are to put it plainly boring, sensationalist and misinformed.

brianthebard

Interesting posts both of you. Ive started to feel like more and more people view the world through some sort of media lens, and take on the policies or opinions of their favoured medium, rather than actively seeking out news or seeking to understand what is happening. I think from that perspective the media does become more powerful.

jdivision

Well Tony O'Reilly says his newspapers are now viewspapers. They express and opinion rather than anything else. I think the amount of editorialising that is creeping into news journalism is wrong, look at Sky, Fox, INM, even The Irish Times on high rise. Cover the facts if it's news, your opinion doesn't matter. If it's opinion, label it as such.

monument

jdivision wrote: »

Well Tony O'Reilly says his newspapers are now viewspapers. They express and opinion rather than anything else. I think the amount of editorialising that is creeping into news journalism is wrong, look at Sky, Fox, INM, even The Irish Times on high rise. Cover the facts if it's news, your opinion doesn't matter. If it's opinion, label it as such.

Agreed.