Media can undermine economy - Lenihan

Journalists should temper their scepticism with an acknowledgement of the hopeful signs that are emerging in the economy, according to Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.

Mr Lenihan said that while most reporting of our problems had been fair, journalists needed to be aware of the self-fulfilling nature of any "doomsday scenarios" they wrote. It was undoubtedly the case that journalists could undermine or promote confidence in the economy, he told a media conference today.

He acknowledged there was a "climate of fear" among the public about the impact of financial markets on the economy, the loss of jobs, the loss of markets and the stability of the banking system. A crucial element in dispelling fear was the provision of accurate, reliable and balanced information. This was the real role of the media in the middle of an economic recession.

While the media was generally responsible about correcting inaccuracies, the issue of balance was more problematic. "There is a tendency to paint black and white picture, to overstate difficulties, to use sometimes emotive language. And God knows, our problems are bad enough without exaggerating the reportage to present doomsday scenarios."

Mr Lenihan said he did not agree with those who claimed the media did not report enough good news. It was facile to expect reporters to engage in "national back-patting" and journalists had to be sceptical in their treatment of stories.

However, scepticism should not be reserved just for Government, or political parties, and the same rigour should be applied to the reporting of interest groups and representative bodies. Agendas were not exclusive to politicians and Governments and many interest groups had better communication resources than political parties.

Mr Lenihan suggested a "cosy cartel" was in operation among economists, whereby they did not go head-to-head or disagree publicly. "Perhaps that is inevitable in a country the size of Ireland but it is unfortunate because inevitably, the shriller voices predominate and the public is deprived of an insight into the complexity of the issues."

Ireland was lucky to be gifted with so many "Renaissance men and women" in the media, he remarked: "But surely there have to be limits to the areas of expertise of some of our leading columnists. Not everyone can write authoritatively on our current crisis and perhaps some of our columnists might question the value they can add to the debate".

Mr Lenihan said he understood public anger and its articulation by commentators. "If this crisis has taught us anything, it is that we must tell it to the public as it is and not as they would wish to hear it."

The Irish economy is at a critical turning point where confidence can make a real difference, businessman Denis O'Brien told the conference.

The Digicel chairman said Ireland was "under the microscope" of the international financial community and their news suppliers. The big story of the past 10 days was not the Taoiseach's Morning Ireland interview but the use of Twitter that spiralled into "critical and damaging" articles in major international outlets across the world.

As a result, Irish news providers needed to be increasingly sensitive as to how they present the news of the day. In practice, that meant reporting both good and bad news about Ireland.

Mr O'Brien said there was good news to report about Ireland and it was not insensitive to report it when so many were suffering from unemployment, negative equity and emigration.

Among the positives that could have been reported in recent weeks, he said, was the fact that our GDP remains the second highest in the EU, that employment levels are stabilising, and that GDP fell only slightly this week.