Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

The establishment sniggered in September when Sinn Féin threw its weight behind Independent Catherine Connolly’s Presidential bid.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael scoffed when the republican party’s leader Mary Lou McDonald called the decision a game-changer.

In a page-one Sunday Independent article on September 21, headlined ‘Relief in Coalition as Sinn Féin opts to back Connolly’, unnamed sources from both Government parties talked down the significance of a united left candidate.

Maybe it was ignorance. It certainly smacked of arrogance. It was disrespectful, too.

The two main parties either woefully underestimated Connolly’s potential, or they recognised the threat she posed to their hegemony but deliberately downplayed it to convey calm.

By then, the Galway West TD had already built a massive grassroots movement that eventually grew to 15,000-plus volunteers.

And she was already backed by People Before Profit, Labour Party and Social Democrats, with the Greens onboard later.

Sinn Féin’s blessing was a positive injection for the Connolly camp. Even casual observers of politics knew it. But the commentariat was unable or unwilling to recognise it at the time.

Alongside Heather Humphreys and Fine Gael, and Jim Gavin and Fianna Fáil, the Irish media, or so-called ‘mainstream media’, was the biggest election loser.

Dublin media proved woefully out of touch. Some journalists embarrassed themselves — and their profession.

At one point, a media consensus emerged about a ‘boring’ campaign. Leaving aside that elections aren’t held to entertain political correspondents, the campaign was so full of twists the Reeling in the Years programme makers will struggle to edit down the 2025 edition.

Ex-Minister and broadcaster Ivan Yates’ recommendation to ‘smear the bejaysus’ out of Connolly was enthusiastically embraced by some in Fine Gael. And it was facilitated by reporters too eager to throw dirt dug by Connolly’s detractors.

It wasn’t even the obvious stuff that battered journalism’s reputation. It was the subtle negative framing of stories and framing of certain questions to elicit replies that fitted a negative narrative.

A sophisticated electorate didn’t buy it.

Voters who tuned in to radio and TV debates didn’t swallow media analysis that there was ‘no winner’.

Clichés (‘didn’t shift the dial’ and ‘no knock-out blows’) disguised what was plain to see but commentators were reluctant to say — Connolly was a far better debater and communicator than Humphreys or Gavin.

Some national journalists took it upon themselves to take Catherine Connolly down a peg. ‘Who does she think she is?’ sort of stuff.

Hatchet jobs dressed up as opinion were bad enough. Worse still were ‘news’ stories blurred by an anti-Connolly editorial line.

Rather than presenting unbiased, impartial news in an honest and fair way, to inform voters, publications sometimes strayed into the realm of seeking to influence voters.

Part of the problem is the relationship between journalists and politicians. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil feed stories to their favourite reporters. Catherine Connolly isn’t the type who leaks juicy exclusives.

[A notable exception, very welcome in this parish, was her decision to announce her run for the Áras in her own local newspaper, the Galway City Tribune, an exclusive for our own Denise McNamara back in July!]

Social media was awful in this election. Attack videos, including the one created by Fine Gael, deepfake videos, vile misogynist and sectarian abuse and false information were among its problems.

Traditional media fell down too. Yet analysis of media since the election focused only on what the international press said about it.

After a poor performance covering this election, Irish media needs to pause and reflect on how and why it is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

Pictured: Denise McNamara’s story in the July 11 edition of the Galway City Tribune announcing Catherine Connolly’s decision to run for President.