Looking beyond the nine-day wonders of the year that was

CONSULTANTS, specialising in crisis public relations, tell you most media cycles don’t endure beyond nine days. From breaking of stories to revelations and reactions from every angle, they are usually wrapped up in three days.

More detailed postmortem analysis can pick at bones of the carcass, but the story commonly doesn’t extend into next week. Journalists are preoccupied with new news — regularly displacing importance with urgency. At the cusp of the calendar, we can reflect on the passing year to see the wood from the trees on issues and patterns where profound change is occurring.

The top line stories of 2011 are mere tombstone details. Headlines? We saw the demise of Osama bin Laden and Libya’s Gaddafi. Sadly, we lost Garrett FitzGerald and Brian Lenihan from public life. Japanese floods and Arab Spring regime changes captured world attention. Domestic mega events were visits of the Queen and Obama.