Noel Whelan & Fionnan Sheehan on Pat Kenny

[thebig C]

Hey Gang

I don't know if anybody heard this interview. Nothing spectacular except that according to Noel Whelan....all the various cricis have been caused by irresponsible media reporting rather then government inaction and incompetence.

Only on 2 issues, does Whelan have a point, namely, the "IMF Remarks" and "John Maloneys supposed criticism of Cowen". I could be acerted in these cases that the media did indeed blow things out of proportion. In saying that the Government certainly exacerbated things through poor communication.

However, Noel Whelan went further and was stating that all issues, Anglo, Bank Guarantee, were not big problems, they were just portrayed that way by the media.

He stated that we have too many media outlets, that all have to fill colum inches and air space and as a result were misreporting everything. For example, he thinks Cowen is not being indecisive he is simply the victim of a witchhunt. Lennihan was correct when he told an interviewer that asking about Anglo was dangerous. In short the government have been excellant.

Now, naturally you would expect Noel "FF" Whelan to say such things. However, what got to me was an undercurrent in a lot of what he said. His premise was that all these issues are sooo complicated that they go over the heads of ordinary people, and cannot be explained in an adecute manner through the media, therefore, the media should not deal with these issues, and confuse the public by creating hysteria. Instead the government should be left to do its job.

Furthermore, he advocated that all aspects of Anglos business were not for public digestion and should be subject to secrecy!

What struck me apart from the intimidating aspect of trying to silence critics was this feeling of siege and paranoia which Whelan seemed to exude! I wonder does this say anything about the mindset of the government. It smacked of desperation to be so vocally shooting the messenger.

Naturally Sheehan did a half assed job defending the media and Kenny allowed Whelan to interrupt and then ramble on. Kenny even made the point that "Gordon Brown had a plan, it didn't work. So, our Government are right not to plan but to react to events as they happen"!!

Amazing....and kind of scary!

[greatweecountry]

I thought Whelan's beathless and panick-stricken delivery was real siege mentality stuff from the FF bunker.
PK then allowed him freedom to raom all over the pace in the manner so beloved of FF minister interviews so that focus is lost and questions never really get answered. Oh for a Paxman in our media.

[badboy2]

Noel Whelan is an example of all that is wrong in Irish politics and media.

Too incompetent to be a backbench TD he is humoured by a leading paper to churn out badly written propaganda.

The idea that he gives any form of balance to Garret Fitzgerald's analysis is a joke and one of the reasons that the Irish Times has so little credibility

[Clanrickard]

Hey Gang
I could be acerted in these cases that the media did indeed blow things out of proportion. In saying that the Government certainly exacerbated things through poor communication.

However, Noel Whelan went further and was stating that all issues, Anglo, Bank Guarantee, were not big problems, they were just portrayed that way by the media.

He stated that we have too many media outlets, that all have to fill colum inches and air space and as a result were misreporting everything.

Now, naturally you would expect Noel "FF" Whelan to say such things. However, what got to me was an undercurrent in a lot of what he said. His premise was that all these issues are sooo complicated that they go over the heads of ordinary people, and cannot be explained in an adecute manner through the media, therefore, the media should not deal with these issues, and confuse the public by creating hysteria. Instead the government should be left to do its job.

What struck me apart from the intimidating aspect of trying to silence critics was this feeling of siege and paranoia which Whelan seemed to exude! I wonder does this say anything about the mindset of the government. It smacked of desperation to be so vocally shooting the messenger.

Naturally Sheehan did a half assed job defending the media and Kenny allowed Whelan to interrupt and then ramble on. Kenny even made the point that "Gordon Brown had a plan, it didn't work. So, our Government are right not to plan but to react to events as they happen"!!

Amazing....and kind of scary!

The same approach was tried trying to railroad Lisbon through. "Look here plebs sign on the dotted line 'tis way over yeer hids" Well it ain't working because the stench of dead rat is overpowering.

[richie268]

Hey Gang

I don't know if anybody heard this interview. Nothing spectacular except that according to Noel Whelan....all the various cricis have been caused by irresponsible media reporting rather then government inaction and incompetence.

Only on 2 issues, does Whelan have a point, namely, the "IMF Remarks" and "John Maloneys supposed criticism of Cowen". I could be acerted in these cases that the media did indeed blow things out of proportion. In saying that the Government certainly exacerbated things through poor communication.

However, Noel Whelan went further and was stating that all issues, Anglo, Bank Guarantee, were not big problems, they were just portrayed that way by the media.

He stated that we have too many media outlets, that all have to fill colum inches and air space and as a result were misreporting everything. For example, he thinks Cowen is not being indecisive he is simply the victim of a witchhunt. Lennihan was correct when he told an interviewer that asking about Anglo was dangerous. In short the government have been excellant.

Now, naturally you would expect Noel "FF" Whelan to say such things. However, what got to me was an undercurrent in a lot of what he said. His premise was that all these issues are sooo complicated that they go over the heads of ordinary people, and cannot be explained in an adecute manner through the media, therefore, the media should not deal with these issues, and confuse the public by creating hysteria. Instead the government should be left to do its job.

Furthermore, he advocated that all aspects of Anglos business were not for public digestion and should be subject to secrecy!

What struck me apart from the intimidating aspect of trying to silence critics was this feeling of siege and paranoia which Whelan seemed to exude! I wonder does this say anything about the mindset of the government. It smacked of desperation to be so vocally shooting the messenger.

Naturally Sheehan did a half assed job defending the media and Kenny allowed Whelan to interrupt and then ramble on. Kenny even made the point that "Gordon Brown had a plan, it didn't work. So, our Government are right not to plan but to react to events as they happen"!!

Amazing....and kind of scary!

The Freedom of information is a dead Duck as far FF are concerned. Maybe they will slap a 30 year rule on Anglo

[mccafferty cat]

I heard the replay of this last night. Noel Whelan was absolutely hysterical!! It was extraordinary. He yattered on NON-STOP for over 5 minutes, un-interrupted, and Sheehan barely got a word in edgeways, with Kenny barely interjecting at all.

His whines about the media "filling up space" with anti-Government stuff is incredible. Why wasn't he making a similar complaint 3 or 4 years ago when many papers (the Irish Independent in particular) were pretty much set by the agendas of various Ministers?

Whelan's erratic, scattergun prattling was really strange. He sounded genuinely upset, and if I had never heard the man before I would have guessed that he was "tired and emotional" on air