Overdose of 'remarkable scenes'

On the airwaves:On Thursday evening, the nation turned on RTÉ's Six One News to be greeted with what newsreader Sharon Ní Bheoláin described as "remarkable scenes". The phrase is almost worn out from use during this campaign so far.

On Thursday, those scenes involved the Irish Nurses' Organisation conference where Mary Harney and Brian Lenihan received what Charlie Bird first described as a "frosty" reception, but later upgraded to an "icy" one.

Yet the bulletin opted not to show the most remarkable of those scenes. Viewers needed to have watched TV3's earlier news report to see the Minister for Health's speech being greeted by the sound of one hand clapping.

It was as if RTÉ was showing a little mercy towards the Government parties, who must be fervently hoping that very soon the "remarkable scenes" will involve someone else's discomfort.

The PD press conference, Albert Reynolds's accusations, the nurses' strike: with the exception of his visits to Stormont and the Boyne, and the peculiar solace he now finds in the company of Ian Paisley, it was a tough media week for the Taoiseach and his allies.

It wasn't as bad as the first week of the campaign, and on Sunday night Ahern had given a confident interview to RTÉ1's The Week in Politics (watched by 300,000 viewers - double its normal figures).

But how much did the resurrection of "Bertiegate" scupper any plans to engage more with radio and television? He appeared at Fianna Fáil's press conference yesterday morning, but until then it was as if Ahern believed that every interviewer only really had one big question, and that all the other queries are just stepping stones towards it.

You could see how guarded he was by the way he treated a light interview from a TV3 reporter on Thursday. He was asked nothing tougher than "how do you relax in the evening?" but his mouth had a rictus expression that suggested he was expecting a jab in the ribs.

To compound matters, the impending resignation of Tony Blair allowed commentators to make parallels between the two men, as if in the slow setting of the Blair era we were also getting a glimpse at the twilight of Ahern's leadership.

Blair's speech was shown during RTÉ's morning show Campaign Daily, and host Bryan Dobson couldn't resist honing in on one of the outgoing prime minister's key lines. "Ten years is long enough," repeated Dobson. "That's not a sentiment that Bertie Ahern will be admitting to."

It would be interesting to know if before the controversy over his financial affairs the Taoiseach had planned to do more one-on-one radio and television interviews. This week, Trevor Sargent, Pat Rabbitte and Gerry Adams were all busy doing the rounds.

Even Michael McDowell, despite starting his week with the "remarkable scenes" at his Sunday morning press conference, was allowed to put in a strong performance on TV3's Polls Apart with Matt Cooper and Eddie Hobbs.

But it is Enda Kenny who has attempted to step into the Bertie-shaped hole. He was in open-necked shirt mode on TV3's Ireland AM; combative on Newstalk; interviewed on local radio stations and RTÉ radio.

If "Bertiegate" has done anything, it has allowed Kenny to impose himself on the coverage in the way that his "presidential" campaign required.

Things will change next week. On Thursday night, the two men will come face-to-face in a live television debate that could prove a tipping point in choosing the next taoiseach.

Enda Kenny will be hoping to drive home his advantage. Bertie Ahern will be hoping to prove his resilience and reassert his authority. The massive television audience, meanwhile, will be hoping for more "remarkable scenes".