Media pushing for Kenny and Fine Gael?

Jackovarian

Is it just me or are the majority of media publications, including state run broadcasters, pushing for Enda Kenny and Fine Gael to win the election?

I'm not saying anything for or against Fine Gael here, i'm just a bit angered at the biased coverage throughout the country.

You could use the excuse that they are winning in the polls, but that hardly gives publications like the Independent the go ahead to basically name Kenny taoiseach and say that Fine Gael will definitely have a seat majority.

At what point have we had an impartial media anyway? RTE were the only ones that allowed a 5 party debate. TV3 wanted the 3 biggest, even though Fianna Fail were basically tied with Sinn Fein at the time, and completely out of the public favour, apart from a few die hard followers.

Really makes you wonder why this level of support exists for Fine Gael within media circles.

ei.sdraob

I dont know now, RTE all getting a horn over Michael Martin

Smcgie

I think people only assume this when they support an opposition party, wait for a few days and someone will be crying about Gilmore or Martin.

Safe to say your not a blue shirt then :P

Jackovarian

You have a point there, but thats probably a smart move by RTE to keep the incoming Government sweet and let Fianna Fail know that they still have friends if they get back into power in four years.

Jackovarian

Smcgie wrote: »

I think people only assume this when they support an opposition party, wait for a few days and someone will be crying about Gilmore or Martin.

Safe to say your not a blue shirt then :P

Not really, but then at this moment in time I actually dont like any of them. Contemplating voting for Independents! Just dont see the point in it all really. Cant see any of them making any change. They'll probably get in and spend the four years blaming Fianna Fail for wreckin the place!

Kev_ps3

Whats surprising about the rich supporting the party's of the rich?

ednwireland

media = sheep

they'll just go with the flow

outandabout

I think if you study most of the posts and boards and threads on boards.ie, there is a pro-FG consensus emerging.

The media, in my opinion, is reflecting this consensus and also following the opinion polls.

DeVore

We're having a better debate on this forum with more depth and substance than I have seen or heard from any other media.

The bigwigs may denigrate us or ignore us but online is showing its real power this time around.

DeV.

cavedave

Theres a guy here who did a sentiment analysis of Irish newspaper reports and Fine Gael do seem to be treated the most positively

Permabear

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dlofnep

The Mirror is certainly behind Fine Gael. Their articles are riddled with bias. So much for the media playing an nonpartisan role in politics.

oppenheimer1

FG are getting very positive coverage at the moment and their policies are not being critically analysed in the media. I don't think the bias is intentional though, its just the propensity of people to back a winner. When Labour looked like a sure thing the analysis of their policies were non existent or favourable. It was the same for FF in their day too.

That said people will also see bias when they want to see it too.

Permabear

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Killer Pigeon

Permabear wrote: »

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That's not what Joan Burton thinks.

dlofnep

Permabear wrote: »

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A view held by many leading economists. At least with regards to non-sovereign and non-guaranteed debt. We simply cannot afford it - that's the cold reality of it.

Ireland, they say, must continue to inflict pain on its citizens — because to do anything else would fatally undermine confidence.

But Ireland is now in its third year of austerity, and confidence just keeps draining away. And you have to wonder what it will take for serious people to realize that punishing the populace for the bankers’ sins is worse than a crime; it’s a mistake.

-Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning Economist.

Who thinks it is clever that Ireland should spend €100billion buying a load of toxic bank rubbish when we only earn €31.7billion (ie Ireland’s total tax take from all sources in 2010)? This is not a serious proposal and makes us look silly and, more to the point, it leads to more capital flight because people realize that the establishment has lost the plot. Foreign investors are entitled to ask: “If they are prepared to put €100 billion into toxic banks, what would they do with investors’ money?”

Of course we are going to burn the bondholders; of course we are going to wind up the banks. Of course the ECB will have to take a big loss on the Irish assets it has taken on its books.

-David McWilliams

Permabear wrote: »

reversing all the budget cuts, and then funding our €20+ billion deficit and a €7 billion stimulus package out of our €4 billion National Pension Reserve Fund. Nobody can take that seriously.

Labour wished to reverse some cuts, as did Fine Gael. At least in principle - but yet, they facilitated the cuts. Sinn Féin will be implementing cuts, and will add a third rate of tax & wealth tax. It will look at waste in the public sector, and would place a cap on top level public brass. Sinn Féin wants to lead by example, where all their sitting TD's would take a pay cut. A symbolic gesture if anything - but the public wishes to see that their politicians lead by example.

I can't seem to find one single credible economist that back the measures taken by Fianna Fáil and facilitated by Fine Gael & Labour. The simple reality is, we cannot afford the pending debt burden. It is economically unfeasible.

dlofnep

Permabear wrote: »

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I was citing one example with regards to the Mirror. I do feel that RTE has a certain anti-SF vibe to it - which was evident in watching the post-debate shows on RTE and TV3. The commentary was so different, it was if they were watching 2 different debates. Most online polls seemed to side with TV3's analysis of the debate.

Jackovarian

Permabear wrote: »

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I gave examples for TV3, they only wanted to debate with the 3 "biggest" parties. Who cares about Vincent Brown? The mans the most biased and pigheaded journalist/broadcaster in the country!

Go to any Irish news Site right now and you will see a picture of Enda Kenny on the headline story.

RTE ran a programme directly after the debate the other night and for the first 5 minutes all they talked about was if Kenny physically looked like he'll make a good Taoiseach... Thats hardly impartial.

As I said originally, i have nothing against Kenny or Fine Gael, I just feel they are recieving unfair coverage.

Is public opinion really dictating to the media or are the media dictating public opinion?

jimmycrackcorm

The media simply recognises that Kenny will be our next Taoiseach and FG will be the party in power and are reflecting that in coverage. But it's not all glowing e.g. :Manifesto is thin on how to pay for pledgesl

dlofnep

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

The media simply recognises that Kenny will be our next Taoiseach and FG will be the party in power and are reflecting that in coverage. But it's not all glowing e.g. :Manifesto is thin on how to pay for pledgesl

I advise you to check out today's Daily Mirror. It's pretty much championing Enda Kenny.

Permabear

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Jeboa Safari

Jackovarian wrote: »

I gave examples for TV3, they only wanted to debate with the 3 "biggest" parties. Who cares about Vincent Brown? The mans the most biased and pigheaded journalist/broadcaster in the country!

Go to any Irish news Site right now and you will see a picture of Enda Kenny on the headline story.

RTE ran a programme directly after the debate the other night and for the first 5 minutes all they talked about was if Kenny physically looked like he'll make a good Taoiseach... Thats hardly impartial.

As I said originally, i have nothing against Kenny or Fine Gael, I just feel they are recieving unfair coverage.

Is public opinion really dictating to the media or are the media dictating public opinion?

Well he's almost certain to be the next Taoiseach, so naturally there'll be more focus on him.
You're right about bias, all media seems to be biased in this country, none can just report the news sadly.
The Sindo in particular always seems to be pushing some sort of agenda

Permabear

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dlofnep

Permabear wrote: »

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Negotiate what? Fine Gael want to negotiate the interest rates, of which Enda looks like he has already given up on - because all he had to say when he returned was our non-movement on the issue of corporation tax. And even at that - Europe is confident in the future harmonization of corporation tax.

So let's say they shave off half a percent, is it really going to make an incredible different? Enda doesn't have the testicular fortitude to go over there and outline what the real circumstances are - Ireland holds the faith of the eurozone in it's hands, and if more favourable conditions are not offered to Ireland - not only will it economically cripple us, it will destroy us.

So all this posturing by Enda about re-negotiating the terms is absolute nonsense. He's not going to do diddly, and if he does manage to do anything - it will be nothing more than a hollow symbolic one.

Unless we default immediately - we are going to make things worse. Enda needs to grow a pair and DICTATE the conditions. We're not asking the EU - We're telling them. The time for compromise is over.

Permabear

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jmayo

Jackovarian wrote: »

Not really, but then at this moment in time I actually dont like any of them. Contemplating voting for Independents! Just dont see the point in it all really. Cant see any of them making any change. They'll probably get in and spend the four years blaming Fianna Fail for wreckin the place!

Well they are after all the ones in power for the last 14 years. :rolleyes:

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

Whats surprising about the rich supporting the party's of the rich?

And whats surprising about the head of SIPTU urging people to vote for his own party ?

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

That's not what Joan Burton thinks.

He said Vincent Browne favoured the left not labour.

dlofnep wrote: »

Negotiate what? Fine Gael want to negotiate the interest rates, of which Enda looks like he has already given up on - because all he had to say when he returned was our non-movement on the issue of corporation tax. And even at that - Europe is confident in the future harmonization of corporation tax.

So let's say they shave off half a percent, is it really going to make an incredible different? Enda doesn't have the testicular fortitude to go over there and outline what the real circumstances are - Ireland holds the faith of the eurozone in it's hands, and if more favourable conditions are not offered to Ireland - not only will it economically cripple us, it will destroy us.

So all this posturing by Enda about re-negotiating the terms is absolute nonsense. He's not going to do diddly, and if he does manage to do anything - it will be nothing more than a hollow symbolic one.

Unless we default immediately - we are going to make things worse. Enda needs to grow a pair and DICTATE the conditions. We're not asking the EU - We're telling them. The time for compromise is over.

Ah yes lets use the SF method of negogiation and tell everyone to f off.

I do have to ask if you were actually at all these meetings, becuase you seem to know everything about what transpired and how EU is going to have tax hamonisation ?
Tell us more of the inside information you have ?

And since you appear to be able to forecast the future could you give me the lottery numbers for Friday night ?

c_man

Media pushing for Kenny and Fine Gael?

I don't think so. It would be disingenuous for anyone in the media not to go with the reality that barring some huge balls up, Enda will be Taoiseach.

All parties seem to be getting equal amounts of love/hate when all major traditional media sources are taken into account.

Euroland

Jackovarian wrote: »

Is it just me or are the majority of media publications, including state run broadcasters, pushing for Enda Kenny and Fine Gael to win the election?

Yes, there is a feeling of that.

dlofnep

Permabear wrote: »

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Economic commentators don't appear to agree with you. The Centre for Economics and Business Research have expressed extreme skepticism in the Euro lasting another decade.

The ECB has the power to solve this problem: failure to exercise that power will put the future of, not only the Irish economy, but also of the euro, at risk.

This is our trump card and we must have the courage to play it. The deal is simple. If they don’t do the deal willingly, we need to default and see what happens.

And do you know what will happen? They will find a mechanism to take the shares of Irish banks onto their balance sheet. And the crisis will be over, because they will not risk the euro and all that political capital to teach the Irish a lesson.

Those at the ECB know that the stakes are much higher. We must now squeeze them. That is what real patriots do: they stand up for their own people. And the financial markets would support us. Without the euro, there is no need for the ECB. Even if they do not want to act in our interest, they may be forced to do so out of self-preservation.

-David McWilliams

You lack faith in the strength Ireland has at the bargaining table, and yet - all public commentators disagree with you.

Permabear

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MickyMally

I don't mind Kenny being on the front of the papers, the media is, was, and always will be run by groups of wealthy people who have agendas, just accept the fact.
My main concern is our debt, everything else will fall into place if we know how much we all have to pay, and how we will pay it. So our ability to repay is based on growth, and conjecture using figures from the Dept. of Finance, who failed to forecast surpluses when things were booming, and then failed to forecast deficits when we began to slide towards our "soft landing".
So anyone with one bit of grey matter must take into account that these so called experts are more off the mark than on it, which leaves me with the opinion of the unconnected experts who all say we will not be able to pay, and that is taking into account another 2/3 austerity budgets.
Read my lips We Cannot Repay, so let us think of ways of sorting this out, and forget about Stag Hunting, tagging sex offenders, and the "Morning after Pill" which can be dealt with when the economy is sorted out.

Blowfish

dlofnep wrote: »

You lack faith in the strength Ireland has at the bargaining table, and yet - all public commentators disagree with you.

They also disagree completely with Sinn Fein. What McWilliams etc. are talking about is defaulting solely on bank debt and not on sovereign debt. Because of the deficit, getting rid of the IMF/EU deal will pretty much guarantee sovereign default.

Jackovarian

http://www.breakingnews.ie/election/news/new-poll-confirms-fine-gael-lead-493808.html

They ran a story last night saying the same thing, but now they're sure apparently.

The reason I started this thread, and I actually forgot once I started ranting a bit, was to draw up the coincidence between this and the lisbon 2 campaign.

Almost all media publications were pro lisbon. I wasn't looking for an Anti Lisbon stance, but rather a neutral objective opinion.

Its the same sickening scenario again. I dont care if the media are just jumping on the "who's popular" bandwagon.
Would an objective, impartial opinion be too much to ask for?

finnvalley

It seems highly likely that there is indeed a media bias towards Fine Gael, otherwise surely some of them would've copped on that Fine Gael's recent leadership debacle, or to quote Michael Noonan, was 'a stroke' to make Enda Kenny look like a strong leader. Bad enough as Fianna Fail are, at least when Michéal Martin opposed Brian Cowen, it was immediately apparent that his leadership bid was genuine. Fine Gael on the other hand are a party who one day had no confidence in their leader, the next, he was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and the people who so vehemently opposed his leadership quickly fell into rank.

Maybe despite his lack of personality and communication skills, the man does deserve to be Taoiseach...he certainly fooled the nation on that one!

nesf

dlofnep wrote: »

The Mirror is certainly behind Fine Gael. Their articles are riddled with bias. So much for the media playing an nonpartisan role in politics.

Only RTE are required to be unbiased. The newspapers can be as biased as they like, and in fact it's difficult to find a newspaper in this country without some bias towards a particular political stance (if not a party per se). The better newspapers are the ones that are open about what their bias is, e.g. the Economist which makes no bones about being decidedly centrist with a heavy favouring towards free trade. You might not agree with how the Economist analyses things but you can't be under any illusions that it espouses a completely neutral viewpoint if you pay attention.