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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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Stop international travel.close the border.lets look after ourselves
Ignore all government advice and restrictions. Listen to the scientists and follow their advice. STAY AWAY FROM PUBS, RESTAURANTS AND ALL NEEDLESS ACTIVITY.
Please
Stop all flights….NOW
@Cosmos20202020: Exactly- why wait until Tuesday?? A lot of infections could be introduced between now and then
Here here! Really don’t understand we we haven’t been doing this all along like other countries. Test on the way in, strict quarantine with visits from the Garda or other contact trace officials. Then test again five days later. Free to move once those test results back negative. The travellers pay for their own tests as part of their agreement to be allowed to enter the country. This will stop the spread and save lives. It’s a no brainer.
@Carmel O’Dwyer: people should be placed in quarantine. If that is not done, then everything else is futile.
@Carmel O’Dwyer: What you’re proposing is illegal. EU (Irish) citizens can’t be charged to enter the country. If the government want to stop cases from travel (which is the small minority of cases), then they should provide free testing to those coming in on international flights.
Actually er should do what they did in New Zealand. Just stop letting people in unless they are in supervised quarantine for 14 days. Jeez, it’s just Christmas which could be missed for once, could it not? To save somebody’s life?
@Joe Griffin: here we go….New Zealand.
They are nowhere near anywhere and don’t have a land-border with a coloured history to contend with.
@Fozz: the virus doesn’t care about our colored history. And we still have borders, which allows us, surely, to protect ourselves?
@Fozz: You can’t deny they have the proof in their handling. If thats too much then try out a few other southeast asian nations that did the same methods and have similarly low numbers.
@Joe Griffin:
New Zealand isn’t comparable. New Zealand isn’t in the EU and has more sovereignty than we have on these sorts of issues. New Zealand doesn’t have a land border. New Zealand is much further away from a lot of other countries. We are in the middle of the US and the EU, both accounting for almost 50% of global GDP. Especially with all the MNC’s, that’s going to count for a lot of travel. Unless you close absolutely everything, we’re going to be in the same position as before. By the way who the hell makes up what’s essential and non-essential? It’s so subjective.
It’s (more than) a bit late to be suggesting this now duh..
Does sht always have to hit the fan before decisions are made /action is taken?
@Jazz Buckler: Well, before anyone demands any action is taken. It’s usually a considerable time after that than any actually is, if at all.
@Jazz Buckler: I absolutely agree that it’s late, but as Tesco says: every little helps.
@Jazz Buckler: well, yes… Considering we have a housing crisis, healthcare crisis, homeless crisis, public transport crisis, etc etc.
Kent….worst hit spot….do you know whats in Kent…..quite a lot of Irish people who will be coming home on the boat….ban flights and ferries now….it has to be done…
Need banned uk flight/ferries due there new virus dangerous more than covid and need army setup border closed
I flew back on Friday…there is a form but nothing stringent. I also took 2 covid tests…once before flying and one after…should anyone ask….
@Alan McDonald: that’s great and all, but I think if you flew in on Friday, you have to restrict movement and quarantine for 5 days here. Then you go and get your test AFTER the 5 day quarantine. If it comes back negative you can then do what you like and not restrict your movement anymore. That’s my understanding and I am open to correction in it. I haven’t looked into it in great detail as it doesn’t affect me personally so I may be wrong :)
@Stop the Lights: I am isolating and will take another test in 3 days. Just saying two so far have been negative :-)
@Alan McDonald: ah ok, no bother. Fair play to you! The amount of people I’ve heard of that seem to think they can test on arrival into Ireland, get a negative result and go about their day, is frightening. I think there’s a lot of misinformation and people are coming home for Christmas and swanning about the place, unintentionally spreading the virus. However, you sir, are doing the right thing. So thank you!
THE DOG ON THE STREETS KNOWS THAT.
Or just close the Ports and Airports
If they are not prepared to act on travel restrictions the very least they could do is make an address asking our citizens abroad to protect those at home by trying to prevent the new strain getting to Ireland. So please don’t travel from britain unless you absolutely have to. Their current inaction and silence is sheer negligence in their duty to protect citizens.
We are an island. Shut all inward travel down to non residents. Those coming in have to isolate in a hotel somewhere. Close the border with north as they seem incapable of staying at home. Let’s look after our country
It’s like we’re back in March again :(
@Colleen: until we know about this new strain, we kinda are.
Everyone take a breath and get a grip of yourselves.
Mass hysteria doesn’t work. Thought all the clowns panic buying big roll in March would have realised that by now.
Sounds like SF want a police state.
@Michael Flynn: keep taking the drugs, only a half wit would come out with that.
@Michael Flynn: cop yourself on. Ffa
Check how many flights from outside UK.
K l m have up to 4 a day.
Why
@Shay Flynn: fair point, but the UK is suffering from a particularly bad strain, it’s travel from the UK that we need to stop – or at least monitor more carefully
You could put your life savings on the fact the new strain of virus is already here. Just look at the original strain. It’s been detected in sewage samples from EU cities as far back as Sept 19, well before China alerted. We do need to put a block on introducing more of it. That would seem the logical thing to do.
Did you intentionally spell her names wrong at every opportunity.?
close the airports before it is too late unless it is a mandatory quarantine when someone enters like Australia then we should not trust people to fly in and stay inside for 14 days it won’t happen
We do need to step up the game with any or all of the following…
1. PCR test 72 hours before arrival
2. Rapid test before boarding
3. require the contact tracing app be installed and operational
also have some location information so their location can be verified remotely
(note that is for visitors who wish to visit, not for Irish residents and
would only apply during isolation periods).
4. Every person or group be spoken to upon arrival and
5. Establish the nature of the visit and if non essential holiday travel return on the next flight being the ultimate sanction
6. Get details of where staying and who staying there, so that everyone on the house is contacted and instructed to restrict movements.
7. Daily check up that isolation is taking place by home visits etc.
8. Jail people who come into the country and break isolation pending their being returned home,
In many countries were we visit there are rules we must follow, visa registration, hotel registration with passport, etc. why not make it such that visitors here have the ultimate sanction of “deportation” of a kind should they fail to abide with the health requirements here.
We turn people back at the Dublin Kildare border sometimes so why not just send UK (and other) nationals packing if they break the rules here,
We could employ people on the Pandemic Payment to carry out some of this work and it would have the benefit of helping in control and also of providing useful employment for people out of work and, as they are needed less and businesses open up, they can return to their normal jobs and know they have contributed to the opening of society. (I add I am suggesting that the posts be temporary and paid at a proper rate and not just getting people working at the PUP rate). Much of the legislation covers health officials so these people can be granted the powers needed under the health acts… and they could also be used to cover other checks on regulations .. just a thought..
the bottom like however is that we do need more control over the movements of people into the country and where they go.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: I agree with your comments though maybe instead of using people on PUP we could use people who have been collecting the dole for 10 or even 20 years. I’m sure they would be keen to answer their country’s call.
Will the vaccine work on the new strain and will the new strain fuse with covid 19 and become another strain .Or could the newer infectious strain run out of steam quickly.Travel from abroad should be banned from every country for now have we not learnt anything about how covid19 came here in the first place. The big qestion is will the vaccine work on this new strain .
Michael Martin needs to close the borders with UK.
The problem we have is that when all is said and done there is usually more said than done
have your say