Danger of getting stuck in spin cycle

Other groups of people who are often undermined by the media have taken steps to communicate a more rounded story about their lives. Citizen Traveller, a partnership of Traveller organisations and settled people, received funding from the Government to devise a campaign which looked at Travellers as people, and as a distinct cultural and ethnic group.

Worked out in conjunction with Public Communications Centre, a Dublin-based media organisation, the campaign has used radio ads with Travellers speaking easily and openly about their lives and ideas. It's designed to challenge the preconceptions many settled people have - in spite of the fact that few settled people have ever even had a conversation with a Traveller.

According to Niall O Baoill, who was involved in the Fatima Mansions programme on Today with Pat Kenny, the biggest challenge for communities which have been subjected to negative coverage is "self-confidence - learning to see through that oppressive sense that other agencies manage the story of your life. There is a need to develop confidence about saying `no, you can't interpret our story'."

But the media shouldn't be the exclusive focus, he says. "There is a very formulaic approach to representing issues with the media. Communities need to create a space in which to look at different languages, especially the language of the arts, to tell their story.

"The intensity of people's lives doesn't lend itself to the soundbite format. The laws of journalism don't need to apply - it is possible to create alternate media for communication to express what the community is."

Communities around the country work with drama, writing and the visual arts to do just that. In Rialto, several initiatives - such as creating an alternative tabloid and making a documentary about the area - have been effective.

"You can train people to be very clever and manipulate the media. But is that good enough?" O Baoill asks.

"There is always the risk the community will believe the image it is creating of itself. Playing the media game can result in people just moving into `spinning'. There has to be more to it than that, and that can only come from giving credence to your own experience and sharing that with others close to it."

Developing complementary media is the way of the future, according to O Baoill. "National stations and papers tend to be out of touch with the reality of people's lives.

It is possible to shift the balance from global to regional, and there is a need for that. I'd say in the coming years there will be a development of different structures which meet that need."