THE IRISH media regard unwelcome publicity for criminals as an intrinsic component of the punishment for their crimes, according to Press Ombudsman Prof John Horgan.
The primary role in protecting society against criminality belongs to the police and the courts, and should not be outsourced to the media, Mr Horgan told the Parnell Summer School yesterday.
The ombudsman declined to answer questions about the publicity surrounding the release of convicted sex offender Larry Murphy, on the basis he may in the future have to deal with a complaint about this issue.
In his speech, however, he contrasted favourably the “reticence” of countries such as Sweden and Holland about publishing information on people involved in criminal trials with the amount of media attention these cases attract in Ireland.
Journalists in other European countries voluntarily refrain from publishing personal information about people involved in trials, he pointed out.
In Sweden, the identity of the person charged with killing former prime minister Olaf Palme was disclosed only after he was convicted (he was later cleared on appeal).
Mr Horgan said the justification for this reticence was the belief that additional public shame arising from media publicity was arbitrary and selective, involved “collateral damage” to innocent parties and could interfere with any prospect of rehabilitation.
It could also create a risk to the life of the criminal and even heighten the risk that he or she would reoffend.
There were risks in outsourcing the role of protecting society against criminality to well-intentioned groups such as the media, he warned.
“Are the Swedes and the Dutch no more than lily-livered, politically correct do-gooders? Is the sentence passed by the media always life?
“Is someone who has been convicted of a criminal offence and has served his sentence always a criminal, and not entitled to basic human and civil rights?”
Mr Horgan questioned whether journalists’ frequent evocations of fear, mistrust and anger were justified; he pointed out that recently the word “fury” had appeared in newspaper headlines in 14 out of 18 days.
“Isn’t there a risk that if you cry wolf too often, when there’s only a rather cross dog barking outside, that people will become desensitised to real risks, injustices and scandals?
“Have we the energy to be that furious, all the time?”
While the journalism of assertion and denunciation had its place, society, in discarding the authority figures of old, was running the risk of, “erecting new pulpits and ordaining new preachers,” he told the meeting in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow.
Well-written, knowledge-based and factual commentary would always have a value because readers find it useful and necessary.
However, when newspapers became “viewspapers” and editorial opinions were smuggled in subliminally, the line dividing news from comment could become increasingly difficult to discern.
Mr Horgan said journalists should take more time to reflect publicly on what they do and how it could be done better.
Scepticism was an essential trait but he asked whether journalists were being true to their calling when necessary scepticism turned into default cynicism?
Public relations consultant Mark Brennock said it was unfortunate that Irish media operated “next door” to the, “nasty and extreme” tabloid culture practised in the UK, which had found its way to this country.
He criticised “pointless” invasions of privacy, such as repeated doorsteps of the “rogue’s gallery” of scapegoats for our banking crisis, and said the creation of “cartoon bad guys” only served to distract from the systemic causes of the problem.
