Don’t shoot the messenger – the media has a duty to tell it like it is

The Government has told us there will be more tax increases in next December’s budget, that child benefit will be cut, that other social welfare benefits are under threat and that public spending will have to be cut. That is not a media construct

IN the same week that George Lee – Ireland’s gloomiest economic commentator, according to some – has decided to test his popularity with the public, a hitherto largely unknown recruitment consultant sprang to prominence by sending out a mass email attacking the media’s alleged role in unnecessarily undermining public confidence in the economy.

David Bloch runs a recruitment firm called Brightwater and having read an article based on his email in a newspaper, I asked him to join us on The Last Word on Wednesday. Bloch repeated his claims that the media is reporting everything that is wrong about the economy while ignoring the positives. He claimed a link between sentiment and the economy and said the media was depressing the population and thereby destroying the country.