Bertie Ahern was in critical mode at the Parliamentary Party meeting last week and had harsh words for The Irish Times and the Sunday Independent. These organisations, he said, employed commentators to print and broadcast only one particular point of view and that was one opposed to FF and the Government. But, he told colleagues, they shouldn't get "paranoid" and should concentrate on raising their profiles with the local media instead. Remember, he said, the IT treatment of the first FF government in 1932 and also Sean Lemass, who had faced the same problems. Nothing had changed, but while both newspapers had influence over the public and so had to be worked with, he personally had "given up on the Sunday Independent".
In April 1965, Lemass did indeed cut loose at The Irish Times. In a leader headed "Staggering", the paper had criticised his election threat to introduce prohibition and quoted him thus: "If I make it on April 7th, the boozer will have to go abroad for his drink in future. He won't get it here."
Lemass immediately issued the following statement: "The Irish Times which seems to have passed under the control of a group of crypto-reds, supporting left-wing elements in the Labour Party, has now, for the first time in this country introduced the Communist tactic of attributing to its political opponents statements which they never made.
"Needless to say, the words quoted in this leading article were never used by me. The suggestion is so absurd that on this occasion, nobody is likely to believe it, but I must expect this tactic to be repeated in some other context before polling day. The Fianna Fail government liberalised the licensing laws, and this is our policy. The freedom of the press is a great principle and I personally will fight for its preservation even when it is abused in this fashion."
The following day, The Irish Times ran his statement beside a photo of a grinning Taoiseach holding a pint of plain. An editor's note pointed out the leader had appeared on April 1st.
Quidnunc is at rholohan@irish-times.ie