MEDIA & MARKETING:Papers have claimed many political scalps lately – but a broadcast had the biggest impact, writes SIOBHÁN O'CONNELL
THE POWER of the press has been brought into sharp focus in recent times with the print media claiming more scalps than Geronimo. However, in the case of Willie O'Dea, was the Limerick Leaderethically correct in moving from being an objective bystander to being an active participant in the unfolding drama?
The former minister for defence was the latest casualty of vigorous press reporting. The resignation of Fás chairman Rody Molloy can be traced back directly to articles in the Sunday Independent. Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue fell on his sword after details of his extravagant overseas trips were outlined in the Sunday Tribune. And this week junior minister Trevor Sargent resigned after revelations in the Evening Herald.
O'Dea's demise also had its origins in a newspaper article, though political pundits seem to agree his position only became untenable when the taped interview that was the source of the Limerick Leaderarticle was broadcast on radio.
One week ago, the nation was well aware that the Limerick TD had spread gossip about a political rival. Despite this, he had survived a confidence motion in the Dáil and seemed to be in the clear, even if unelected sections of the Green Party were throwing shapes. However, when O'Dea's interview with Leaderreporter Mike Dwane was broadcast on RTÉ radio's News at One, the minister became a dead man walking. Actually hearing what was said by O'Dea to Dwane, and the manner in which the minister said it, caused such hilarity, and disgust, that Fianna Fáil gave up the fight to save their man.
But why did the Leaderwait until after the Dáil confidence motion before releasing the tape to other media and broadcasting the interview on its website? At that stage, Dwane's integrity was not in question. There was no dispute that he had reported his interview accurately and a transcript of the interview had been published months earlier in the Irish Mail on Sunday.
Dwane's story that led to Maurice Quinlivan taking a defamation action against O'Dea was published in March 2009. Quinlivan sued in April, the same month as O'Dea deposed his inaccurate affidavit. Quinlivan's solicitors were aware of the existence of the tape and wrote to the Leaderrequesting that it be kept safe "for production in the High Court". The lawyers also requested a transcript, but the Leaderdidn't oblige.
Dwane became immediately aware that O'Dea's affidavit challenged the accuracy of his story, and alerted his editor Alan English. Three months later, English contacted O'Dea to discuss the minister's mistaken recollection. When O'Dea heard the tape, he realised he didn't have a leg to stand on and instructed his lawyers to settle the case. The settlement was finalised in December 2009. According to Dwane, shortly before the settlement was announced, the Leaderfinally released a copy of the recording to both sides.
So why go public with the tape last week? Says English: “We were swamped with requests from TV and radio stations and newspapers asking us to send them the tape, as well as requests from readers asking us to put the tape on our website.
“We had no axe to grind either way. We had published a verbatim transcript of the interview and we felt that was sufficient. But as the story gathered legs, there were all sorts of misleading stories coming our way with regard to what was on the tape.
“The fact that the tape hadn’t been heard perhaps contributed to those wild rumours. There was a suggestion put to me by different newspapers that the tape contained additional smears and damaging information.
“It’s not that we were giving into public pressure, but we had to ask ourselves was there a good reason not to release the tape. As far as we were concerned, this was a row between two local politicians. We are a local newspaper and it was important for us not to be seen to take sides.
“The situation was complicated by the fact that one of the parties involved, Maurice Quinlivan, had threatened to sue us. There was also the fact that Willie O’Dea had lodged an affidavit in the High Court stating that our reporter had mistakenly attributed to him something which he hadn’t said. I didn’t make the decision lightly to release the tape. As a local newspaper editor, there were a lot of factors to take into account.”
On the ethical issue facing English, DIT academic Michael Foley says there was no agreement between the reporter and O’Dea that the taped interview was confidential. DCU journalism academic Brian Trench notes that the interview was not recorded for broadcast purposes. “All things being equal, you would have expected the reporter to have asked the interviewee’s permission in advance to broadcast such an interview. But the decision Alan English made was justified in such difficult circumstances.”
