The Iona institute

Why do the Iona institute get referenced in the main media so much, as far as I can see they are a small religious think tank aliened with catholic church, but they are not the catholic church.

In the media and in general discourses about family and marriage they seem to have taken the place of the actual catholic church in public discourses, they have morphed in to the space in Irish public life reserved for conservative reactionary bigots, the space formally occupied by the catholic church. I suppose someone has to the baddie.

My theory is that mainstream media had failed to grasp the complex reality of family and society in the Ireland of the past twenty years and had ended up flailing about unsure how to pitch things, so they fall back on the old reliable...conservative verse liberal rehashing the cultural wars of the 1980ies as if they are still relevant, only now the Iona institute is playing the part of the baddie conservatives, plus the fact the Diarmuid Martin is too reasonable and likeable to be a baddie.

Temptamperu

Theres already a massive thread on this.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=88673058

Knasher

Mostly it is probably down to news teams, if they have a group on one side of an issue then they generally look for an opposing group to give their opinion in order to maintain the appearance of balance on an issue. The RCC itself is generally pretty unwilling to comment but the Iona crowd are always good for a quote or two.

Temptamperu

Temptamperu wrote: »

Theres already a massive thread on this.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=88673058

That is about homophobia I am talking about wider public discourses in the media. I suppose the thread is more about how mainstream media seems to have lost its grip on what is really going on in society, the mainstream media comes across as tired, dull, lost, and longing for the simple days of the catholic church being reactionary and mattering in Irish society.

The_Valeyard

mariaalice wrote: »

That is about homophobia I am talking about wider public discourses in the media. I suppose the thread is more about how mainstream media seems to have lost its grip on what is really going on in society, the mainstream media comes across as tired, dull, lost, and longing for the simple days of the catholic church being reactionary and mattering in Irish society.

I really doubt they are. They need to be objective and balanced, Not to bend to the will of majority lobby groups, or mob. They should be impartial amd ask the hard questions.

What hard questions? the fact of the matter is people are getting on with their lives, single, gay, divorced, married, teenagers who are having sex, religious people, non religious people.

All the groups both liberal and conservative seem to think they need to comment about...guess what the vast majority of them are getting on fine they are not a hard question needing a balanced answer.

Super-Rush

One thread is enough.