The Irish Media - Agenda Setters or independent reporters

mm.ie

Just what is the role of the media in modern ireland?

Should they be simply reporters of facts or should thier opinion be allowed?

I ask these questions of you in light of a number of issues in which they have been way out in thier analysis.

Examples of this can be seen in the just finished general election,

The slaughter of Fine Gael at the polls (they were all going to be returned)
The success of Sinn Fein and the Greens (sure they are just extremists)
The success of the PD's (they are going to implode)
The non success of Labour. (they will be a huge sucess)

All of these issues were got horribly wrong by the opinionists in the irish media.

Another example of this is the perception that you cannot walk the streets anywhere in Ireland without getting you handbag snatched/ you head broken or your car smashed up by joy riders.
Personally I never find this when out and about.

The recent reclaim the streets party in Dublin showed how the press are, dare I say it, out of touch with thier readers.

To read the papers the following days one would not know you were reading about the same incident that was being disussed in other forums, such as this one.

And so I suggest that they are so busy putting slants on issues (their own slants) that they fail to get it right.

mike65

The press is free to waffle and speculate as much as anyone on these boarsds is! That they often get it wrong is by the by.

The media can set an agenda or jump on a bandwagon, they can also be independant reporters, some media do more of the former some more of the latter (electronic media ie radio and tv tends to be more "objective" mainly because it has to be seen to lack bias esp RTE in respect of news and current affairs).

Newspapers are privately owned and run for profit so they will usually check which way the wind is blowing and pee in the same direction.

Mike.

potlatch

Well, the Independent (FG biased) hasn't distributed any of their issues throughout UCD in about three months and the day after the Noonan/Ahern debate, they distributed it across campus. The headline referred to Noonan's stunning debate victory.

Considering they just arrived on campus after a three month hiatus, I can only assume it was an abuse of media power.

In general, though, it's a very difficult balance to strike; even factual reporting is necessarily biased, even unconsciously. Opinions are just opinions and so long as people realise that everything should be taken with a pinch of salt, things should be OK. But increasingly, the media has become the tool of the politicians more than ever before. It's a reciprocal relationship: the press need politicians for copy, the politicians only say so much as to drip feed the reporters so they get exactly what they want out.

What I'd like to see is a banning of opinion polls in the week leading up to the election.

zenith

On a point of fact: the Irish Independent is generally seen as Fianna Fáil biased.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2002/0301/987079847DAMEDIA.html

gurramok

Originally posted by mm.ie
Another example of this is the perception that you cannot walk the streets anywhere in Ireland without getting you handbag snatched/ you head broken or your car smashed up by joy riders.
Personally I never find this when out and about.

That depends in which part of country you live in. It's not a perception. Come to my area of Dublin city, i guarantee you there is alot of fear around. I have witnessed awful things happening. It is not safe to walk anywhere.
There were joyriders screeching around the streets on polling day.
In some areas, at certain times it is not even safe for people to do their daily routine, venturing to the polling booth is an added danger.

And so I suggest that they are so busy putting slants on issues (their own slants) that they fail to get it right

Don't believe everything you read in the papers !!