Election Times - Village Magazine

March 2016 4 5

MEDIA

hestoryofanelectionismuchmore

than afewheadlines,but theIrish

Timesfrontpagesmercifully,iflan

guidly,devoidofthekindofblatantly

partisanpositioningseenelsewhere,

provideinhindsightaneatnarrativeofthecam-

paign,withtheslowrealisationthatFineGael

wasintrouble,thelackofaclearalternative

emerging,andofcourse,“events,dearboy”.

Whileitscolumnistsandeditorialsmayhave

declaimedpreferencesintherun-uptothegen-

eral election, the Irish Times' front page

generallyaffectedamoreneutralstance,cer-

tainlybycomparisonwiththeanti-SinnFéin

headlineswhichdominatedtheIrish Independ-

entanditsSundaysisterduringtheFebruary

campaign.

The‘newspaperofreference’(formerly“of

“record”) began the month in ‘phoney war’

mode,leadingonMonday1Februarywithcoa-

litionplansto“targethomebuyersandparents

inpollpledges”.OntheTuesday,withstillno

electiondatedeclared,thestorywas“Taoise-

achpreparesFineGaelministersforelection".

Perhapsominously,onbothdaysthebelow-

the-fold story concerned the revelations

regarding“Grace”ayoungwomanwithintel-

lectualdisabilitiesabusedwhileinHSEcarein

afosterhome.Thestorywouldfeatureagain

severaltimesduringthemonthand,bytheend

ofthecampaign,wouldthreatentoinculpate

MichaelNoonan.

Wednesday’spapernallybroughttheof-

cial election notice, leading with Fine Gael

ministersoutliningtheirelectionpromises,but

theshinewasshortlived.Thursday,andthe

rstelectionpoll,brought“disappointingnews

forCoalitionparties”.Muchoftheremainderof

thecampaignwasspenttryingtopushback

againstthoselowpollnumbers,whichstub

bornlyrefusedtorise.Bytherstweekend,

FineGaelhadannounceda“taxU-turntohit

votersearning€100K”(thetop10%ofallearn-

ers,thoughIrish Timesreaderswouldbebetter

paidthantheaverage).

Theelectionnarrativewasdominatedatrst

byFineGael(atleastonthefrontpage)butit

changeddramaticallyinthesecondweek.The

murderousRegencyHotelram-

pagecalledattentiontocutsin

Gardanumbers andresources

and Fine Gael, which prides

itselfasalawandorderparty,

founditselfonthebackfoot.At

onepointSinnFéin’sMaryLou

McDonaldattackedthegovern-

ment for being soft on crime

duringanRTÉradiodebate.By

the end of the week, the lead

storythatGarda“maybeissued

withnewweapons”helpedtorestoremargin-

allyFrancesFitzgerald’sbatteredimage,but

youknowyou(we?)areintroublewhenSinn

Féinareattackingyoufromtherightoncrime.

Meanwhile,bubblingbelowthefold,thenews

wasnobetter.Lowry,DrummandLuasstrikes

festered,andtheTimesawardedtherstTV

debatetoMicheálMartin.

WeekThreebeganwithLabourstrikingout

tocreateaseparate identity,promising“an

abortionvoteinanynewdeal”–denitelya

plusforliberalIrish Timesreaders.Smallerpar-

ties got their first acknowledgement the

followingday,astheleadreportedtheydid

bestinthepreviousnight’sdebate.Fortherest

oftheweek,itwasalmostasiftheIrish Times

tiredofthe“boring”electioncampaign,with

moreconventional“newsy”leadstoriesonan

HSEinquiryintobabydeaths,welfarebenets

formigrants,andBrexit.

WeekFourbeganwiththewritingonthewall,

summarised in a single Monday headline

“MartinandFFriseinpollsasCoalitionstag-

nate”.TuesdaythepaperreportedKennyand

Martin had “equal backing in race for

Taoiseach”,andthenalTVdebatefailedto

resolveanythingforthishard-to-pleasenews-

paperas “leadersfailto land killerpunch”,

beforeKenny’s“last-ditchcallforvoteinfavour

ofstability.”Belowthefoldonthesameday,

therstmentionofSinnFéininafront-page

headlinevolunteerednofavours:“Canvasser

forAdamsownshayshedwhere‘Slab’Murphy

cashwasfound”.

‘Slab’wasalsothesubjectofoneofthefew

passionate editorial columns (now perhaps

self-deprecatinglytitled“theIrish Timesview”).

Othersquitereasonablydespairedofthe“short

election,shortofvision”.

But while front pages covered national

trends, debates and polls, and columnists

insidethepaperfromUnaMullally(who,sur-

prisinglyforsomeonewithapoliticalagenda,

gaveupinterest) to BredaO’Brien(vote for

peopleofconscience,ifyouknowwhatImean)

viaFintanO’Toole(whointheenddetectedan

unlikelyvictoryforsocialdemocracy)andNoel

Whelan (who again somehow spotted the

FiannaFáilrevolutionimplausiblyearly)venti-

latedpartisanviewpoints,perhapsthemost

concisereportageonwhathappenedonelec-

tiondaywasbyreligiousaffairscorrespondent

PatsyMcGarry,whoonthedayofthecount

reportedfromthenorthinnercity,lessthanten

minutesfromTaraStinaneighbourhoodwhere

fewreadtheIrish Times,andfewerwouldshare

itseditorialconcerns:one,ahoodedman,was

pickinguprubbishandputtingitinablackplas-

ticbag.“Ididn’tvote.Idon’thaveavotingcard.

Iwasabroadforveyears.It’snotimportantat

all”.

Election Times

The Irish Times, like the rest of us, got

bored and took some time to realise

Fine Gael was on its uppers

by Gerard Cunningham

Editorials quite reasonably

despaired of the “short

election, short of vision”