The Irish media hysteria

It's the culture of fear, and the media love it as it sells papers or gets clicks.

They have been doing it for decades, and nothing ever changes.

RTE and their Truth Matters campaign they promote is just laughable when you see how they having been hyping COVID this last 15 months. They never want it to end. Nor do Nphet. It's keeping so many people relevant.

You always know the figures need closer attention when they use percentages, as real figures wouldn't scare. As people have mentioned, if they say "ICU numbers are up 50%" is scary, but saying numbers are up from 14 to 21 doesn't have the same effect.

crooked cockney villain wrote: »

I've heard this statiscian guy Pete Lunn on Matt Cooper various times talking absolute bollix about the findings of the surveys he does.

This "guy" is a research professor in the ESRI:

"Pete Lunn is the founder and head of the ESRI’s Behavioural Research Unit. A behavioural economist, he holds degrees in Philosophy & Psychology, Neuroscience and Economics. Pete’s primary research interest is economic decision-making and, in particular, how people negotiate trade-offs."

The surveys he conducts are scientific and produce results with quantifiable margins of error. They involve appropriate sample sizes.

You might not agree with the opinions of the majority in the population he samples...but that does not mean his findings are "bollix".

What research have you conducted to contradict his/ESRI's findings?

As someone who broadly supports the concept of public service broadcasting, I've become increasingly irritated by RTE's coverage of the pandemic.

There's now no question in my mind that ALL RTE presenters have been directed to take an editorial line that does not question the NPHET advice. I'm not necessarily being critical here, but how does a broadcaster like RTE with a public service remit provide balanced coverage of a pandemic? In a general election or referendum, it's probably easier to provide balance and equal time to all sides, but in a pandemic? How does RTE decide what's credible or not? But having said that, their assessment of risk in relation to Covid-19 seems to have become skewed far too much on the side of being ultra-cautious.

RTE starts in the morning with Morning Ireland where Aine Lawlor and Mary Wilson's breathless hysterical coverage has become increasingly grating, in particular with regard to the Delta variant. There was an item a few weeks ago about an 'outbreak' from a party outside on the banks of the Shannon, and it was presented as a doomsday scenario with dire consequences. I'm not sure those dire consequences have materialised. The coverage presented by the likes of Claire Byrne and George Lee has been discussed at length.

Where the coverage extends outside the current affairs department is where you can really notice the editorial policy. I was listening to Sunday Sport on Radio 1 a few Sundays ago, and there was a discussion between Darren Frehill, Jackie Hurley and John Mullane about the restrictions on fans allowed to attend the Clare v Waterford Munster championship match. Mullane was saying it was crazy that only 200 were allowed to attend, or maybe there were none allowed at all. The RTE sports presenters hummed and hawwed, and basically said that we must listen to the experts and that if NPHET recommended that attendance, then they must be right. So even the non-current affairs RTE presenters can't express a contrary opinion to the government/NPHET. It was quite revealing I thought.

Pdoghue wrote: »

As someone who broadly supports the concept of public service broadcasting, I've become increasingly irritated by RTE's coverage of the pandemic.

There's now no question in my mind that ALL RTE presenters have been directed to take an editorial line that does not question the NPHET advice. I'm not necessarily being critical here, but how does a broadcaster like RTE with a public service remit provide balanced coverage of a pandemic? In a general election or referendum, it's probably easier to provide balance and equal time to all sides, but in a pandemic? How does RTE decide what's credible or not? But having said that, their assessment of risk in relation to Covid-19 seems to have become skewed far too much on the side of being ultra-cautious.

RTE starts in the morning with Morning Ireland where Aine Lawlor and Mary Wilson's breathless hysterical coverage has become increasingly grating, in particular with regard to the Delta variant. There was an item a few weeks ago about an 'outbreak' from a party outside on the banks of the Shannon, and it was presented as a doomsday scenario with dire consequences. I'm not sure those dire consequences have materialised. The coverage presented by the likes of Claire Byrne and George Lee has been discussed at length.

Where the coverage extends outside the current affairs department is where you can really notice the editorial policy. I was listening to Sunday Sport on Radio 1 a few Sundays ago, and there was a discussion between Darren Frehill, Jackie Hurley and John Mullane about the restrictions on fans allowed to attend the Clare v Waterford Munster championship match. Mullane was saying it was crazy that only 200 were allowed to attend, or maybe there were none allowed at all. The RTE sports presenters hummed and hawwed, and basically said that we must listen to the experts and that if NPHET recommended that attendance, then they must be right. So even the non-current affairs RTE presenters can't express a contrary opinion to the government/NPHET. It was quite revealing I thought.

I made a similar point in the radio forum.

RTE went from making a loss of €20m in 2019 to making a profit in 2020. The overriding reason was Covid.

They had a massive jump in advertising (for the HSE) and had reduced overheads as there was no events to cover, no OBs, no Olympics, Euros, Champions League, Eurovision, hardly no new programmes made etc.

That's why the presenters keep banging the same outdated message we've been hearing ad naseum for 16 months now.

RunningFlyer wrote: »

Forgive me for starting a thread if one already exists - I’ve read so many different threads and posts I’ve probably missed the obvious however...

It seems everyone is waiting daily for the 6pm figures to find out the latest cases and deaths situation. It’s scary to see how every single media outlet in this country is putting all their attention on this (yes, gloom sells). Not just RTE, but the other stations and every single paper has the latest on the front page in some form or another.

Contrast this to European media - search any of the national news channels or newspapers and you’ll find its never (usually) the top story. They are over the initial panic and are I guess realise they are in for the long haul with this virus.

People here are only obsessed with three things; deaths, cases and the “R” number. I’m not a Statistician or epidemiologist but a few weeks ago when there was concern and hype raised over the R number increasing beyond 1 on the basis of 20 odd cases or so made me completely lose faith in the strategy of the government/NPHET. 10mins reading about R numbers will prove it’s not an effective measurement with low numbers yet this was peddled across the media.

The fear-mongering of the Irish media is seriously starting to affect the mental health of the population - I’m sure everyone has witnessed it on a personal level either themselves or their friends/family. If you’re get stressed I highly recommend deleting the news apps, distract yourself around 6pm when you know the figures will be released, and try enjoy the last of the long days and sunshine because if the current media narrative continues, it’s going to be a miserable winter.

Ireland needs to evolve from our sheepish culture and learn to think outside the box and make our own opinions of matters. The media need to tone down the hysteria and the government need to realise this virus is here to stay so have to start making some difficult decisions against the ultra-conservative NPHET advice to safeguard the country.

Thoughts?

Completely agree. We're so out of step with the rest of the world and we can't even see it anymore due to the insular, hysterical media coverage.