In the midst of this recession and all the talk from some quarters on how "we all have to shoulder the blame/responsibilty", it is interesting to watch/read/listen as to how the main national media outlets are handling the issues invovled.

My perception is one of festering a divide between private and public sector workers. The obvious reason for this is that the wealthy & powerful have a large stake in our private media outlets and therefore the slant propagated by the media is one that attempts to protect the positions of those with wealth & power.

Examples include an editorial in last weeks Irish Times that stated that "120,000 public sector workers" took to the streets - in fact the ICTU represents both public and private sector workers. The attendance of Waterford workers, SRT and Mandate amongst others from SIPTU and IMPACT would indicate a sizeable proportion of private sector workers attended also.

Newstalk had Kevin Myers on the Hook show last week, he propagated about how we should all shoulder the responsibilty also and how public sector workers need to come into 'reality'.
But when the mention of a higher tax for the wealthy propped up, he stated - "no point in going after barristers, you would not get much money from them", he went on to say "the wealthy are suffering too as they have lost practically half their wealth over the last year" - this is true, but Im a public sector worker, I have invested half my savings in bank stocks over the last few years, and my house is currently valued at about 95% of my mortgage (excluding the deposit - which I borrowed from the Credit Union!!). But Kevin doesnt consider my plight because Im obviously not wealthy and as a Public sector worker I live in some woolly wonderland shielded from any effects of the recession.