Goldsmith Summer School

Below is the outline of a talk given by Michael Commane at the Goldsmith Summer School in Ballymahon on Saturday, May 31.

The theme of this year's International Literary Festival was, 'Are the Media above the Law'.


In the seven years I worked at the Kerryman we had a legal person at our beck and call 24 hours a day.

The newspaper industry is always scared about the laws of libel.
But even with a legal person at our beck and call we made mistakes.

Those of you who are familiar with Cork will be aware of that special area of Cork called the Barony of Duhallow.

The area is covered by The Corkman newspaper – which is owned by The Kerryman.
On one occasion a woman in the area got married and the headline in the paper ran ‘The Bride of Duhallow’. Alas the letter ‘B’ in Bride was left out.

And just some two weeks later there was a story about a lady in Scartaglen – the home village of the famous Fr Horan – this time the letter ‘d’ in ‘Lady’ was missing. But this time an observant sub editor spotted it just as the paper was about to go on the machine.

One of my jobs at the newspaper was editor of the letters page – a scary job indeed.
A page that needs particularly close vetting. People can say strange things about their friends and enemies.

But once it appears in print and is libellous then the newspaper is held to account.
Newspapers are ever on their guard when it comes to libel. And libel is quite clearly damaging the reputation of a person. They have to be alive. You can say what you like about the dead!
I’m sure that can hurt family big time.

Liam Lawlor’s family know all about that as do so many others.

So what is the function of a free press in a democracy? To tell the news. Important to separate news from comment and opinion.

I often find that the media takes from one news pot and it’s the same old stories that do the rounds.

For instance in the recent unofficial dispute at Irish Rail no-one was interested in doing a proper analysis of what it was about. Pat Kenny was appalling in his coverage of it. A little work and people would have seen how complicated the issue is.

The setting up by the newspapers of the Press Ombudsman and Press council is an important innovation and good for the body politic.

The recent resignation of John Horgan (not Professor John Horgan) is somewhat upsetting. He retired over the controversy over a non-unanimous verdict.

So can we look at three examples within the media, Catholic media, tabloid media and quality media?

The relationship between the hierarchical church and the media is eclectic – the best word I can think of.

You may have seen the coverage of the controversy over the Alive! newspaper.
Joe Costello’s letter and the reply of the Dominican provincial and then the subsequent provincial council – so lacking in transparency.

I heard a young Dominican complain that The Irish Times printed part of the provincial’s letter.
But generally within the catholic press there is very little on the market that is attractive and in touch and critical. Who reads Catholic media products?

But the secular media is not spotless. Take the recent issue of the Waterford bus driver who was found innocent by a court and is now being badgered by the tabloid media. Is that right? What do you think?

But it’s not as bad as the Austrians. A security guard at the hospital where the Fitzl woman is staying had his collarbone broken by a photographer.

There is no doubt that the tabloid press picks up on the slightest sexual infringement of people yet it sails so close to the wind when it comes to standards.

And I have noticed in the quality media a new tendency to copy what the tabloids are saying but in a more sophisticated manner.

Not too much heard about poverty or prisoners. Need for more thorough investigations of the underlying reasons for poverty and deprivation in our society.

But don’t ever forget newspapers have one purpose and that is to make more for their shareholders. Although Jim Farrelly who was MD of Kerryman and Sunday Tribune always stressed that the owners of The Kerryman were the people of Kerry!

The furore concerning the Taoiseach using the F word said something about the newspaper trade. I imagine anyone who has worked inside a newsroom is well aware of the incredible ‘bad language’ that flies around.

There is no perfect newspaper. Nor is there the perfect template for a perfect newspaper.
But that’s the way of the world and the media is the messenger of that world and that way.