Humbert School: A Government Minister claimed yesterday that the "masters of spin" in Ireland were the national news editors and not the Government politicians and media advisors writes Tom Shiel in Ballina.
Delivering the John Healy memorial address on the theme of "the media and the public interest: spin out of control", the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, said there was one example of "spin" that beat all others - the spin "that the media puts every single day on the most innocent and genuinely positive statements issued by Government Departments".
Mr Ó Cuív continued: "One of the classic conspiracy theories that seems to gain more and more popularity by the day is that everything a Government politician says has been finely honed in the most cynical way possible by a battalion of media advisers in order to distort the facts and hide some intangible, dark, secret.
"Is it really so hard to believe that a Government Minister might, in the public interest, issue a press release letting the public know how their money is being spent?
"Or that the same Minister might work around the clock, not in order to build some imaginary empire, but rather to genuinely try to improve and enrich the Irish society and economy.
"In today's world, however, the media seem to relish putting a sinister spin on anything a politician does or says. The value of unbiased reportage which presents both sides of the story seems to be an increasingly alien concept."
Mr Ó Cuív said it constantly amazed him how some of the announcements he makes take on a whole new meaning and sinister aspect in the media.
Outlining what he described as "a classic example of media spin", the Minister referred to a 5-7 Live report on RTÉ radio before the recent elections announcing that he was "the most prolific Minister in the Government in terms of issuing announcements about the Department's work".