TV3 cast the first stone Ð but other media were just waiting for the off

Date Published: {J}

It was Uncle Gaybo himself who perfected the art of treating newspapers with utter contempt while at the same time building most of his radio programme around their content – and there’s been a lot of the same sort of thing going on over Brian Lenihan.

The Minister for Finance’s illness was revealed to the nation by TV3 who – for the first time since the station’s inception – were credited by all for breaking the story....but only so they could kick the living daylights out of them for doing so.

And once the shackles were off, it was now open season with speculation on what might happen next for Brian Lenihan – personally and politically – while all the time blaming TV3 for betraying this ‘honour among thieves’ blackout in the first place.

TV3 did wrong and they deserve all of the criticism that comes their way; they’re not really a news organisation anyway, more a platform to rebroadcast ITV programmes padded out with Keith Barry masquerading as Noel Edmonds.

But this was always about who would blink first and TV3 got so excited at having a story that still wasn’t in the public domain that it couldn’t hold it back any longer.

RTE got up on an almighty high horse over the whole thing but David Davin Power was still able to tell the nation that he knew Mr Lenihan’s illness was a very serious one – so let’s not pretend that TV3 were the only ones to heighten public fears on this one.

And after that it was inevitable that the tabloids – and the Mail in particular – would just let this one run and run with little or no thought for Mr Lenihan or his family.

Back in the day, Gaybo used to hammer newspapers for sensationalist stories which he would then read out word for word over the airwaves, before inviting the public to phone in with their comments – this was before text and designated comment lines – so that in airing the story, he brought it to a much wider audience than the paper itself could ever have hoped for.

Not a lot has changed on that front either, because stories ‘liberated’ from newspapers still form the backbone of broadcasting material; occasionally, in fairness, it also works in the other direction.

But the upshot of TV3’s decision to break ranks and reveal all – after cruelly giving the Minister 48 hours to tell his family and friends of his illness – might have ramifications that stretch way beyond who scooped who.

Because it was only by the skin of our teeth that the media escaped a privacy law when the latest legislation on libel was going through the Oireachtas – and now that one of our number cannot behave itself, the rest of us may have to pay the price.

That’s fine if it gives Mr Lenihan and people in a similar situation the space in which to come to terms with their illness, but a privacy rule can have implications in an altogether more sinister way as well.Bertie Ahern might have used it to stop publicity for his finances; Gardaí in Donegal might have used it to ensure the world didn’t know the dodgy dealing going down in parts of the county; Dublin City Councillors might have been spared the whole ‘cash for rezoning’ debacle – and the list goes on.

But if we’re to avoid the imposition of privacy regulations, we must – as a profession – behave responsibly. And the rest of us are dammed if we’ll pay the price because TV3 doesn’t know how to behave itself.

The question as to whether or not Mr Lenihan’s illness was in the public interest is something of a smoke screen; he knows it is and he would have made an announcement in his own time once the Christmas holiday was over.

It is in the public interest because Mr Lenihan holds the key portfolio in Government at a time when the role of Finance Minister has never been more important, and his ability to do his job will determine public and market confidence in our economic future.

But TV3 cannot hide behind the fig leaf of public interest; it broke the story – and broke ranks – to get one up on RTE. And its cynical ‘ring around’ to the news desk of every national newspaper is proof positive of that.

Brian Lenihan is a decent man who understands more than most the ups and downs of both public life and media at work; he makes himself available for interview whether it’s good or bad news on the menu; he always exchanges pleasantries and I’ve never known him to bear a grudge.

Those who work closest to him say that his greatest strength is his ability to listen and to take considerable amounts of complicated information on board so that he will always make informed decisions on whatever dilemma confronts him.

That’s down to his training as a barrister where he would regularly have to assimilate a complicated brief quickly, and build a convincing case around it in the courtroom – perfect training for the rough and tumble of political debate.

His healthy perspective on life will stand to him in dealing with his illness now and we can only hope that he will remain fit enough to stay on centre stage – because he has demonstrated leadership and vision in his portfolio, even if he was a reluctant incumbent in the first instance.

We certainly need him an awful lot more than we need TV3.

For more, read page 15 of this week's Connacht Tribune.