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BAR THE FINAL European seats, we know how the parties and the candidates fared in the local and European elections.
But how did the media do?
Here are eight things we learned about how the Irish media handles modern elections, politicians and political coverage.
Whether on radio or TV, set piece debates where candidates face off and try to score points against each other are anachronistic, unenlightening, and poor entertainment. Of course, the situation isn’t helped by vast European constituencies, large numbers of candidates, many of whom had a tenuous understanding of what an MEP actually does.
Most of the MEP debates saw candidates trade focus-group-tested talking points, with the occasional incomprehensible squabble over agricultural policies.
The only memorable quote from any European debate was Barry Andrew’s line that Clare Daly should pay more attention to Crumlin and not the Kremlin. But such zingers were few and far between.
I had the misfortune to listen to back-to-back radio debates on RTÉ’s Drive Time one afternoon a week before polling. By the end of the ordeal the only person who sounded credible, likeable and well-informed was RTÉ’s Sarah McInerney.
Miriam and I have done the draw for tonight’s Prime Time EU Dublin debate @MiriamOCal @rtenews @RTEOne pic.twitter.com/A2O2j8KUV8
— Sarah McInerney (@SarahAMcInerney) June 4, 2024
What’s the point of these debates? Some candidates are excluded. The ones that do make it into studio, often come across as shrill, dull and unlikeable. Sometimes all three.
Surely a more informative or more entertaining format is possible? At least in America there’s a financial windfall for this sort of thing – the networks take in good advertising money. And lots of it. Here, no one wins. Democracy dies in dullness.
Whatever you think of Kevin Bakhurst, barter accounts and hushed up payments to Ryan Tubridy, RTÉ is a damn fine public service broadcaster when it comes to elections. This should not be taken for granted.
There was constant rolling coverage from Saturday morning onwards on screen, over the airwaves and online. It’s a massive logistical feat to place reporters at almost all count centres, produce hours of TV and radio and bring it all together without technical glitches or dead air. Sure, at times it was repetitive and slow. But that’s down to the complexity of the count, not the professionalism of the broadcaster.
All media outlets did a good job, but RTÉ deserves credit for the depth and breadth of its output. Only the fake news media brigade can complain that their TV license money was wasted.
For the rest of us, RTÉ’s biggest failing was that their ‘elections hub’ looked a little ramshackle on TV. There were wires on the floor, phones ringing in the background, cheap perspex lecterns and the the big touch screen that was occasionally unresponsive to Katie Hannon’s prods and jabs. But hey, this is kind of what count centres are like too: I’ll take verisimilitude over glossiness any day.
“This is the fount of all knowledge for Elections 2024.”
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 9, 2024
Katie Hannon takes us behind the scenes to look at the RTÉ Results Centre touchscreen - where the election counts from all around Ireland are collated. #Elections2024 pic.twitter.com/Y7QhpEB0lY
The broadcast moratorium kicks in from 2pm the day before polling. It’s supposed to give us time to think and reflect before casting our votes. This sort of thinking dates from a bygone era when radio and television were powerful media. But in an era when online news is freely available and misinformation can spread while the responsible media is gagged, the moratorium isn’t just outdated, it’s dangerous.
Thankfully, Coimisiún na Meán has indicated it will review the moratorium before the end of the year. Given that there may be a general election soon after the budget, they may want to get their skates on.
If politics is showbiz for ugly people, then it belongs on a medium where we don’t have to see any faces.
National and local radio can accommodate a plethora of different voices that TV can’t match, and a conversational immediacy that the written word can’t capture. This was very evident over the weekend after the election. Sure, there were a few strange scheduling quirks, both Newstalk and RTÉ had to fill a few hours of commentary on Saturday morning before there were any tallies in the local elections. But things got going later in the day.
On Newstalk, for example, Andrea Gilligan helmed a dynamic show with a great panel – including a very relaxed sounding Leo Varadkar – and party leaders dialling in from count centres. It was great radio. Unvarnished and immediate.
Twitter has gone to hell. But when it comes to political set pieces, it’s still got it. Since the voting stopped it’s been a reliable source of breaking news, screenshots of tallies, videos of line dancing in count centres and hot takes from the literati and the twitterati. Political news still breaks on Twitter and then migrates to radio and news sites.
There is no shortage of great commentators in Irish political journalism. And an election brings these voices to the fore. There’s Fionnan Sheehan’s encyclopaedic knowledge, coupled with the wit to come up with ideas like ‘Shinnerfreude’: the pleasure derived by every other party from Sinn Féin’s misfortune.
There’s Virgin Media’s Gavan Reilly’s smart sharing of data and tallies on Twitter and ability to explain proportional representation and the single transferable vote using a pack of Smarties.
🗳️ Have you ever been bamboozled by Ireland’s electoral system, or how election counts work under the PR-STV system?
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 7, 2024
Fear not: I can explain… 🔴 using 🟠 a 🟡 well-known 🟢 chocolate 🔵 sweet 🟣 snack 🟤.
(Other tasty confections are available. #notspon.) pic.twitter.com/kMHooliKRK
There’s Miriam Lord’s sketches in the Irish Times, which recently included quips about a potential Labour/Social Democrats merger being called LSD, and wondering if it were done tastefully would Richard Bruton leave his shirt on for an election.
And for the purest of political wonks, who revel in grassroots skullduggery, insider information and shit-stirring, Matt Cooper and Ivan Yates’ Path to Power podcast is a great listen. They are the Waldorf and Stadler of Irish Political commentary.
For all the wit and insightful commentary, almost all media outlets are one step away from clichés and lazy thinking. Independent’s Day, please! The bad puns on America’s national holiday – and Roland Emmerich’s sci-fi flick – have been invoked in every election since 2011.
The media still hasn’t got its head around the fact that political parties are not the behemoths they once were and independent representatives are here for the long haul. Independents are still often viewed as some sort of alien invasion by the media.
Similarly, ‘the centre is holding’ is a lazy line that only serves the larger political parties. The truth is that the centre is eroding, but slowly. And as Gerard Howlin pointed out earlier this week, ‘the centre’ is far more left of centre than it once was if you look at how social transfers and state spending has evolved in the past 20 years.
As a final point, any political or media outlet that uses the phrase ‘Harris Hop’ should be fined. Stop that.
Turnout is a problem for democracy. And it’s a problem for the media too. Half of the population responded to the campaigning and wall-to-wall postering with a shrug. Turnout in Dublin for the local and European elections averaged at 38%.
This means there’s a disconnect between the around-the-clock political output of our media and the interests many citizens. No doubt, more viewers were annoyed that RTÉ didn’t broadcast the European Championships on Friday night than the small number who bemoaned the lack of exit polls.
There is a challenge for media to make politics relevant and interesting – without degenerating to a Punch and Judy show. Not an easy ask for local and European elections. The good news is that it’s likely that the media will have another chance to do it all again before the end of the year.
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Eh it’s the sun what do you expect. Its a total rag.
Would never ever buy The Sun.
(Except when it’s €0.50 during Euro 2016)
The Sun…keeping it classy. A $h1t wipe of a newspaper that’s barely fit for even that purpose.
The Sun is so pointless. I mean I would use it as bog roll if it weren’t more expensive than the regular stuff. A shame, really.
A shyte wipe newspaper , published by a shyte.
Aside from the sun being a toilet paper mouthpiece for Murdoch it seems Scotland is not healthy place for anti-war politicians.
From Winston Churchill to Tony Blair: How British Leaders Destroyed Iraq for over a Century.
By Garikai Chengu
” After seven years, the Chilcot report has delivered a damning verdict on Tony Blair’s role in the war on Iraq, but British Prime Ministers playing a destructive role in Iraq is a centuries old practice.
Britain has used its military might and commercial prowess to subjugate Iraq and control its oil resources for over one hundred years.”
If you were to use The Sun as bog roll you would wipe more on than you would take off
I wouldn’t dare use The Sun as toilet paper! I might catch something, like getting a case of dumb.
I would never buy it. I don’t even take it when it’s free. Complete rag.
Robin Cooks speech above is one of the greats, if you have not viewed it already it’s well worth your time.
Wow. I agree with Jammin for the first time!!
Too late to apologise now, he is dead. So who is the spineless creature now? The U.S. and U.K. declared war on a nation to get its oil and the UN stood back and did NOTHING, is that not spineless as well?
You’re blaming the UK for the actions of the US and Britain? What could they do? They don’t have a military and were powerless to do anything. Blame the guilty.
UN not UK…. :-) Wish you could edit / delete comments!
The UN did nothing? The UN security council probably would’ve authorised an invasion in a few more years if the brutality of Saddam’s regime continued. But you can never tell. Such an inept organisation that has never been fit for purpose.
Are the US and UK not members of the UN?
The Sun is pathetic
Its readers are aswell tbf
Robin cook, who just happened to fall off a mountain in Scotland. Mmmm
No word about Dr. Kelly or how he could hold a blade in his hands to cut his wrists when he cut so deep into his wrists that he couldn’t hold the blade with his fingers?
Could have, but even so, you do not f**k with the military industrial complex…the weapons inspector that ended up dead outside London before he was to give his verdict is another case.
He didn’t just happen to fall off a mountain in Scotland. He died of hypertensive heart disease, while with his wife.
He was an able and principled politician, leave the conspiracy theory nonsense out of it.
Silly Phil!!!
Keep watching Sky News Phil !
You’re confused Robin Cook with Blair’s predecessor John Smith, who died after falling ill while hill walking.
I always feel so sad about that poor man Dr Kelly, shameful what they did to him. Shameful what they did to us all!
John Smith did not die hillwalking. He had a heart attack in his flat in London and died later in St Bart’s Hospital.
Phil is right – Robin Cook’s wife was with him when he had his heart attack and therefore doesn’t see his death as suspicious in any way. Sorry if what actually happened is too mundane for you – I’m sure the conspiracy narrative is much more exciting…
The Sun is still a rag though.
Sorry to break it to you people but there are still plenty of lies going on today that the majority buy into. The propaganda ball keeps rolling and it won’t stop anytime soon.
When I was in my teens I found George Carlin who said (paraphrasing) “I have certain rules I live by. My first rule is that I don’t believe anything the government tells me, and I don’t take seriously the media or the press”. I took that on board. Words from the government and the press (generally the unofficial public relations arm of government) that try to convince you of something are nothing more than the words of a certain group of people trying to get your approval that will enable them to do something for their own benefit, not yours.
Look past the fear, the emotive language, etc. and question everything.
With you there Alan.The language used/permitted/propagated/favoured is much more significant than many realise.
Well the same is happening now, the Chilcot enquiry, and the salivating of the press over it is just a means to press the reset button. To reboot the establishment. And the public is falling for it.
It is an effort to hang all the “evil” on one man Blair and absolve the press, politicians, public and state hierarchy for a war that has become a totem for some reason. It was a war the same as any war.
It is conveniently forgotten that there was overwhelming support for the war on Iraq. After all, Tony Blair was returned to power in 2005 with a majority of 68, a landslide by today’s standards. When and why did Blair become persona non grata?
@Joe, if you’d had a look at the Daily Fail during the week, the Iraq war was just a lefty plot, all the horrible comments about lefty this & lefty that, forgetting that most, if not all of the Tories supported the Iraq war.
@alan, Vidal gore, I’m sure was his name, an American with some very good views on politics and psyche in America, sadly departed but he nailed each and every wayward step America has and explained what they (white house) were up to. Definitely a man ahead of his time.
Well said Alan.
Those British men who read The Sun are idiots. Haven’t they heard of the libellous edition of The Sun that was published after the Hillsborough disaster?
The Conservative Party was in decline under John Major. Therefore, there was no need for Tony Blair to rely on Murdoch.
Sir Humphrey: The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers’ prejudices.
Jim Hacker: Don’t tell me about the Press. I know *exactly* who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. The Guardian is read by people who think they *ought* to run the country. The Times is read by the people who actually *do* run the country. The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country. The Financial Times is read by people who *own* the country. The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by *another* country. The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think it is.
Sir Humphrey: Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?
Bernard Woolley: Sun readers don’t care *who* runs the country – as long as she’s got big tits.
I love Yes, Minister & Yes, Prime Minister, recently watched it all again from scratch, it’s amazing how nothing has really changed.
Didn’t know it was just men that read the Sun
@anthony campion
I can’t imagine that many British women would read The Sun (You might know why).
It is so sad that that both these fine men along with Dr Kelly are gone before the truth came out.
Funny enough, I could use the same headline to describe the sun
The Journal should know better than taking unnecessary pot shots at a fellow news organisation. This place isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue the whole time either.
I get what you’re saying, but calling the Sun a news organisation made your point null and void.
The Journal is pretty inoffensive in comparison to the tripe turned out regularly by that rag. There is no comparison.
Reminds me of the Michael Dwyer story In Bolivia, remember him been described as a Walter Mitt character by the newspapers here, wonder what the journalists who wrote this about an innocent man are doing now?, I wonder if any of these journalists have ever apologised to his family for the crap they wrote in order to sell their newspapers. These journalists aim their crap at the sheeple, of which there are many, they know the people, of which there are few, will wait until all the facts come out
Mitty
Automatic thumbs down for using the word “sheeple”
Ahh comeon, why.
conri, sheep don’t like to be compared with people. People have an obligation to use their brains and inform themselves as to the rights and wrongs of matters.
Sheep on the other hand simply follow all government dictats and are herded down whatever road the government wants. The rejoice in their sheepishness, and think anyone who doesn’t agree with them are fools.
Dave, how true !!!
‘The purpose of newspapers is not to sell news to readers but to sell readers to advertisers.’ The sun can easily be dismissed as a rag but its influence on society is far too malign to ignore. It panders to peoples base instincts and knows its audiences short memories only too well.
The good people of Liverpool have personal experience of the Sun and it’s lies and they take the appropriate action by not buying the rag.
The Sun has perpetrated their bile against working class people and they’ve castigated ordinary decent people as thugs and spongers etc etc.
Had they been on the ‘remain’ side they’d have had an excuse to go a rant along the same lines against the other side but of course that didn’t happen.
But ANY newspaper who’d employ Kelvin Mckenzie, in any capacity is a only fit to be burnt.
The Sun ,that Beacon of moral compass.
Yeah – Britney’s 24 hour Sexathon, pure filth.
The Sun , you wouldnt even use it to wipe up vomit .
Did you notice who is sitting behind Robin Cooke in the green suit?
The Sun: My arse deserves better.
Any Irish person who buys the Sun should be ashamed of themselves. An utter rag that has peddled anti Irish sentiment for years.
Fair play to the Sun
Dear Deirdre is the best part of the sun ;)
Why can’t we all just get along?
First i heard about charles kennedys passing. belated RIP
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