Secret to political success is bringing it all back home
World of Politics with Harry McGee
Back in 1990 we had the adventure of Ireland’s first ever World Cup campaign in soccer, Italia 90. My colleague in the Connacht Tribune, Francis Farragher, flew out for the Ireland/Italy quarter-final clash in Rome’s Olympic Stadium. He wrote a terrific article about the experience, capturing the atmosphere, the excitement and the fun.
One thing that stuck in my mind was a small detail that he included, the cost of a pint of beer in Rome; for the reader, that made the experience comparable go what they were used to at home.
What was important about that piece was Farragher’s understanding of the common person, the people who drank a pint or two in Donohoe’s pub in Abbeyknockmoy, and their worldview – and it is something that journalists should never lose sight of, even if they often do.
When Sean O’Rourke used to present the News at One, he would often ask when a suggestion for a story was made to him: “What will the man in Bohola who eats his dinner in the middle of the day make of all that?”
Similarly when I worked in the Irish Press a long time ago, it was the man going home on the Number 13 bus. When I was with the Irish Examiner, it was the farmer in Kiskeam, a village in North Cork.
When you are working inside Ireland’s ‘beltway’ in the boarding school-like setting of Leinster House, it is unavoidable that a gap emerges between your world view and that of ordinary people.
It affects everyone, politicians, civil servants and journalists. It’s not as bad in Ireland as elsewhere. We are a small country with a small population. We also have multi-seat constituencies.
That gives rise to a huge degree of localism in our politics, or ‘parish pump politics’.
It has its downsides (too much emphasis on the local, not enough on the national) but unlike other countries, our politicians know more of what’s happening in the ground.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.