Are the media in Ireland showing prejudices towards Gardai?

pool10

i am asking this question to try and get a feel for the general public views on this. i read alot of newspapers and listen to the news regurarly enough and i am beginning to feel the media have a big problem with the gardai and their policing methods. i would consider myself law abiding and find i do not attract any garda attention. at checkpoints i have encountered a few guards who i wouldnt like to cross but i must say i think they are in general doing a hard job in hard times and doing ok. media seem to make out they are vastly overpaid and always connect them with our huge national debt! For instance i recently viewed rte news at 9 and the article in question showed footage of gardai walking the beat followed immediately by our national deficit figures. I have looked up their pay scales and to be honest it is not a very well paid job.

pool10

pool10 wrote: »

i am asking this question to try and get a feel for the general public views on this. i read alot of newspapers and listen to the news regurarly enough and i am beginning to feel the media have a big problem with the gardai and their policing methods. i would consider myself law abiding and find i do not attract any garda attention. at checkpoints i have encountered a few guards who i wouldnt like to cross but i must say i think they are in general doing a hard job in hard times and doing ok. media seem to make out they are vastly overpaid and always connect them with our huge national debt! For instance i recently viewed rte news at 9 and the article in question showed footage of gardai walking the beat followed immediately by our national deficit figures. I have looked up their pay scales and to be honest it is not a very well paid job.

It's all part of the battle to portray the Public Service as overpaid and underworked in these current times. A lot of them and the public fail to see the difference between the people at the top and the people at the bottom. I just ignore it.

BaronVon

If there is any media prejudice, which there definitely is between some newspapers and the public service, i'd say they main reason is the guards are a soft target.

They never defend themselves publicly, so most articles about them are one sided.

Except, of course, from security correspondents, who rely on the guards for all their information and stories.

Joe Soap, more importantly, seems quite happy with the guards though IMO

Terrontress

pool10 wrote: »

i am asking this question to try and get a feel for the general public views on this. i read alot of newspapers and listen to the news regurarly enough and i am beginning to feel the media have a big problem with the gardai and their policing methods. i would consider myself law abiding and find i do not attract any garda attention. at checkpoints i have encountered a few guards who i wouldnt like to cross but i must say i think they are in general doing a hard job in hard times and doing ok. media seem to make out they are vastly overpaid and always connect them with our huge national debt! For instance i recently viewed rte news at 9 and the article in question showed footage of gardai walking the beat followed immediately by our national deficit figures. I have looked up their pay scales and to be honest it is not a very well paid job.

It's not a well paid basic but I think the issue that people have is the perception that there are allowances and expenses which are paid which are greater than the costs or inconveniences involved. This is a direct result of media outlets whipping their readers, viewers or listeners in to a frenzy of hatred by focussing on a payments in isolation. If they were to provide the gross annual income including any expenses or allowances then there might be a different reaction.

But that won't sell adverts.