The media have a powerful influence on the ideas we develop, and believe, about individuals, groups of people and ourselves. All sorts of assumptions spring to mind these days when we think, for instance, of terms like asylum-seeker, disabled, traveller - and not many of them are very positive.

Media also have a long standing relationship with stereotyping. Time and space are short, a point has to be made succinctly - and quite often it is at the expense of depth, complexity and the real diversity which exists among people.

There is another important "constraint": for many media outlets, shock, outrage, scandal and horror are the sort of emotive ingredients which grab our attention, keep us watching or listening and sell newspapers.

These are sure, sharp shock tactics. And, unfortunately, a couple of paragraphs about positive work in a community would take the sting out of a story on rape, murder or drug use.

Is it possible to balance things out by doing another story which takes a more positive approach? It would certainly help offset very destructive ideas readers or viewers may otherwise develop about an area. But "news", by and large, is not good; almost by its nature, it's bad - if not horrific.

This concept of what constitutes a "good story" presented the people living in Fatima Mansions in Dublin with a certain dilemma when Today with Pat Kenny, RTE Radio 1's morning current-affairs programme, contacted them with a view to doing a programme about the community.

Generally, media coverage of Fatima Mansions focuses on issues like drug use and crime. The stories tend to provoke horror among the readers, creating a lasting image of an area full of people with no hope, nor any control over their apparently chaotic lives.

Roisin Ryder, a community development worker in Fatima, and Joe Donoghue, a community youth worker who is also chairman of Fatima Groups United, met with the show's producer, Kay Sheehy, to discuss the level of input the community could have into such a programme.

A planning team, designed to liaise between RTE and the community, was set up. Naturally there were certain constraints. The community wanted Pat Kenny to engage in a meaningful way; however, there was a limited amount of time available. The community wanted to have control over the stories, while RTE asserted they would have to be strong.

Ultimately RTE would have to have editorial control, and all concerned had to understand that the programme was a personality-driven show - i.e. that Pat Kenny would be at the centre of it.

Initially there was a considerable amount of wariness on both sides. "RTE obviously wanted to make an interesting programme," says Niall O Baoill, an arts worker with a long history of working in the area and a member of the planning team. "And one way to do that is to make it adversarial.

"We had to convince RTE that you can do without extremes. The media tends to do things in a particular style, but one which has masked how the community here has tried to develop. We wanted to throw light on that, and to find a way into the heart of the community story."

In the end, the programme was a mix of live and pre-recorded interviews looking at things like regeneration and young people in Fatima beyond drugs. It took Pat Kenny and his microphone into people's homes to talk about their lives in the flats.

"We put the show together, organised the stories and the people," says Joe Donoghue. "We wanted to ensure people wouldn't be demonised. We were also conscious that people often reveal very personal stories to the media and can then feel very exposed.

We worked with everyone on how they felt about dealing with hard questions and encouraged them to work out what they wanted to say, and how to say it well."

The community agreed with RTE that there would be seven key elements in the programme. Among them was the issue of drugs, told in a way which was neither voyeuristic nor clinical.

But the show was live, and inevitably the community would be described by the show's presenter. "It's hard to get the emphasis right," says O Baoill. "The first thing Pat Kenny said was that he could see a syringe.

Then he described the blood on the walls in the stairwell where people shoot up. It wasn't a very pretty picture. But the objective was that the various stories told would show that this community understands itself."

By and large the planning team were happy with how the show went. "It was a very positive experience," says Joannie Whyte, a member of the planning team. A good story was told and the audience would have heard that there is a process of change in the complex.

"It was a human story showing that people here have the same rights and aspirations as anyone else in the country. With the drugs issue, people think it's the area's fault, or individuals' faults, when it's neither - it's about poverty, and that was told on the radio."