Irish Independent had no hidden agenda on boom, says ex-editor

The former editor of the Irish Independent said the factors surrounding Ireland's economic collapse could have been our "Watergate", but the media didn't get the story.

Gerry O'Regan told the Oireachtas banking inquiry his newspaper had "no hidden agenda to try and artificially bolster" the property sector during the boom.

As editor from 2005 to 2012, he said there was always a “strict separation” between advertising and editorial aspects of the paper.

“It would be wrong to retrospectively arrive at definitive conclusions regarding the coverage of the economy and the property market on the basis of subsequent events and evidence, which was not then, but is now in the public domain,” Mr O’Regan said.

“Editors, writers, contributors and analysts cannot but be influenced by the prevailing climate at a given point in time.”

Mr O’Regan was addressing the committee on its module examining the role of the media in the build-up to the economic crash.

He said the climate created a “national feelgood factor” and ongoing reporting and analysis of the economic landscape continued in that context.

Consensus

Likening what occurred between 2002 and 2007 to a potential Irish “Watergate story”, he said of his analogy with arguably the most famous example of investigative journalism: “They got Nixon but they might not have. We didn’t get Nixon.”

Rather, he told the committee, the “overwhelming consensus” was that despite growth in construction and rising house prices, the “essential pillars of the economy were sound”.

“The prevailing wisdom was that if a ‘property bubble’ was to emerge, the country’s still high employment figures and positive government finances would mitigate against a serious economic downturn.”

Along these lines, Mr O’Regan said, the prevailing view was that a “soft landing” would follow.

Michael Doorly, former financial director and current company secretary of Independent News & Media, the parent company of the Irish Independent, said he did not believe the media could create booms.

“Demand for property is created by a mix of factors over which the media has no control: overall economic conditions; consumer confidence; ready availability of finance; income trends; demographics; and rate of home formation and societal capacity for risk,” he said.

During the boom, advertising revenues grew within the industry. The Irish Independent and the Sunday Independent increased income by an average of 6.5 per cent per year, or a total of 36 per cent.

Advertising and circulation revenues grew by 52 per cent and 17 per cent respectively. Property advertising represented an average of 14 per cent of overall advertising income, although the level varied from a low of 11.2 per cent in 2002 to a peak of 17.2 per cent in 2006.

At RTÉ, property-related advertising accounted for less than 1 per cent of overall revenues at the height of the Irish pre-recession economy, the committee heard.

Advertising revenue during the peak of the boom saw just 0.9 per cent coming from the property sector and 0.3 per cent at the lower end. The financial sector accounted for 4.6 per cent at the peak, but generally about 3 per cent.

Paul Mulligan, head of commercial operations at RTÉ, said the institution had clear guidelines on keeping its content and decisions independent from vested interests.

Fascination

Responding to questioning on the number of property-related programmes shown by the broadcaster up to 2007, Mr Mulligan said this was simply a reflection of the “fascination” Irish people had with the subject.

Ed Mulhall, former head of news and current affairs who retired in 2012, said he had been "asked [by the committee] about the relationship between the editorial and sales functions within RTÉ. In my experience as MD of news and current affairs, there is none."