Lenihan cancer story: in defence of journalism

The ‘shocking’ news that finance minister Brian Lenihan has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer has resulted in a wave of public anger – at journalists.

Broadcaster TV3 invaded Lenihan’s privacy, the story goes, by reporting on December 26 that his pre-Christmas ‘hernia treatment’ either revealed pancreatic cancer or was in fact itself a cover story for cancer treatment.

According to the Sunday Independent, “senior government sources” were “outraged” by the report. (1) The usual internet echo chambers immediately came to life with hollow anger as Disgusted of Dublin 4 logged-on to Twitter in order to engage in the now traditional ‘two minutes hate’. A campaign has been been launched – on Facebook, of course – to have the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland censure the broadcaster. (2)

In typical over the top fashion, the Lenihan report is described in absurd terms: “I like many others as disgusted at the manner in which TV broke news of Brian Lenihan’s illness on St. Stephen’s Day. If you agree that it marked a new low for Irish journalism please contact the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.” (3)

The fact that demands to have the government slap-down a news team are coming at the very same time as everyone and their uncle bemoans the Irish media’s inability to properly investigate and break news appears to have been lost on many. Most interesting, however, is the fact that journalists are busily flagellating themselves over the story – plenty of hardened hacks tweeted their outrage at TV3’s handling of the story. In truth, there is barely a media-related story these days which doesn’t see journalists lining-up to damn their own trade.

For its part TV3 has made a particularly feeble defence of the report: “We held it for two days to enable him to inform his family,” said the station’s director of news, Andrew Hanlon. This poses a more interesting question than it answers: why should TV3 wait so long before reporting? Lenihan could have informed his family in a matter of hours, not days.

There is a right to privacy but it’s not being eroded by the press. In fact, the prime suspects are government and private business, both of which engage in data mining on a tremendous scale. Even with this, Lenihan’s right to privacy is – rightly – vastly reduced in the name of the public interest. Plenty of people have said that Lenihan’s cancer diagnosis is a matter for him and his family. It’s a compelling argument, but a wrongheaded one. True, Lenihan’s illness is primarily a private affair but there is a clear public interest in reporting it: he is a senior minister in the government after all. As finance minister, Lenihan’s decisions have a direct and immediate impact on the public. In addition, the job is more important than the man and, when he took the job Lenihan was well aware that he would lose a lot of privacy.

Revealing that a government minister is being treated for a serious illness is significantly more newsworthy than, for instance, reporting on his or her sexual indiscretions and yet at the first sign of a high profile figure having an affair the press goes into overdrive, pruriently reporting on politically and socially irrelevant ‘bonkfests’, ‘love nests’ and the like. The public has a much clearer interest in a government minister’s health than it does in his or her sex life or, for that matter, the health of a celebrity or other unelected figure.

Some have argued that the problem was not the fact that TV3 reported the story but how it was reported. This argument is difficult to sustain. If anything TV3’s reporting was sloppy and, worse still, mawkish and sentimental in tone – a fact that will prove politically useful to Lenihan if and when he returns to the job.

TV3’s mishandling of the story wasn’t in reporting it, it was in failing to report it for 48 hours and still making a hash of the report when it finally did air it. But none of this alters the fact that the public does have a right to know. A more grown-up society would note Lenihan’s illness, wish him well and move on – the fact that he is ill is lamentable and newsworthy, but it is not earth-shattering. Those who wish to lob rocks in the direction of reporters should take a long, hard look in the mirror before doing so.

(1) Public anger at TV3 intrusion into Lenihan’s serious illness,  Sunday Independent, December 27, 2009
(2) See: Lenihan BAI group
(3) Ibid
(4) Op Cit Sunday Independent