Media Relations: Deaglan de Breadun examines Conor Cruise O'Brien's memo on Coalition media policy.
Ministers should refuse to appear on television unless they had something "significant" to say and they should avoid panel discussions because the balance of advantage lay with Opposition representatives, Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien told his Cabinet colleagues when the Fine Gael-Labour Coalition took office in March 1973.
In addition to his duties as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Dr Cruise O'Brien was put in charge of the Government Information Bureau (now Services) by the Taoiseach of the day, Mr Liam Cosgrave.
A week after the Cabinet was appointed, the Minister circulated a memorandum in which he set out a "basic general principle" of Government relations with the media, as follows: "That we be seen and heard to do and explain as much of the work for which we are responsible as is appropriate to be seen, heard and explained and no more." Applying this principle in practice meant "holding a middle way between extremes of aloofness and unapproachability on the one hand and overexposure on the other."
Exposure should be linked to activity, "i.e. the Minister to be seen and heard when he is doing something or has something concrete to say, and not when he can only deal in vague generalities".
Ministers should normally decline to appear on television when there was nothing of significance that they were free to say on the air. "Since he is a Minister, the media will be at his disposition at the appropriate time."
However Dr Cruise O'Brien encouraged his Cabinet colleagues to be seen meeting representative groups of citizens. "It sets a style of accessibility and responsible democracy, different from the Fianna Fáil 'we know what is best for you all' approach."
But they should avoid participation in panel discussions on radio and television because, on such occasions, "Opposition protagonists necessarily have the advantage over Ministers, as they are cramped neither by Departmental responsibility, nor by collective Cabinet responsibility, nor official secrecy."
Dr Cruise O'Brien's four-year term of office is best remembered for his outspoken pronouncements on Northern Ireland. In his autobiography he recalls that, within a short period of time, he was "altogether out of tune" with his Cabinet colleagues on Northern Ireland, but this is not foreshadowed in his March, 1973, memorandum which also lays down guidelines for Ministerial comments on the North:
"It is particularly important that no shadow of dissention within the Government be allowed to appear even through significant variation in emphasis. It should therefore, be a strict rule that only the following make statements about the North, in the following conditions: (a) The Taoiseach and Tánaiste at their discretion; (b) Other Ministers only after consultation with one of the above and with his approval."
Reviewing media comment on the Government's performance in its first seven months, a subsequent unsigned memorandum to Cabinet dated October 15th, 1973 notes that, "The Irish Times quickly got off the mark in displaying its independance (sic), partially influenced by suggestions from the Opposition that the media had been 'bought off' by the Government, and became critical of what they alleged to be a 'too clever by half' characteristic of the Government."
The Irish Times had also been generally critical of the Government's attitude on the North, particularly in relation to the SDLP. "Another contributing factor has been in the past, a permanent tension that existed between the paper's former political correspondent [an apparent reference to the late Michael McInerney] and the editor."
The Irish Independent had generally taken a favourable line on Government policy "but it has become highly consumer conscious and has adopted an aggressive policy which is critical of the Government in relation to prices - a campaign upon which it bases a fair amount of its circulation - and housing/building societies".
The memo adds: "Its front page policy - in an attempt to secure headline stories for circulation purposes - has become erratic in the extreme and is not always consistent with the paper's editorial policy."
As regards other media outlets: "The Irish Press, predictably, has continued its 'republican line' which is highly critical of Government policy in the Anglo/Irish area". RTÉ had been "fairly satisfactory" apart from a "bias" in Northern coverage. But the general image of the Government was a good one:
"No serious impression exists in the media of policy/doctrinal/personality differences as between the several members of the Government."
Various changes in media organisations including the appointment of two new political staff in The Irish Times (James Downey and the late Dick Walsh), "could well create a highly competitive and thereby deeply probing type of journalism".
It was common practice to supply the text of a Ministerial speech to news organisations, particularly in the case of a function which journalists were unable to attend. However the memo reports "mounting criticism" at the length and content of such scripts - "putting it briefly that some speeches contain not a single fundamental thought of any worth".