It’s a recurring problem in foreign news coverage. Morning Ireland stands out for covering a wide range of international stories, but even here the topics fall into predictable patterns.
There are stories with an Irish angle — such as the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” and Shannon airport — and stories with a presumed Irish resonance such as the Middle East peace process. Everything else gets filed under exotica.
All too frequently the Irish link defines the terms of the discourse. Analogies between Northern Ireland and the Palestinian peace process are the most blatant and recurrent example. Even an experienced observer such as Richard Crowley seems unable to discuss Hamas and the Palestinian elections without dragging in the Northern Ireland comparison. Apart from the blindingly obvious — a move from militancy to electoral politics trailed by clouds of suspicion — it is not clear the analogy is of much use, muddying the issue rather than clarifying it.
Yet Pat Kenny (Today, RTE R1 Mon-Fri) took a similar tack, playing soundbites from candidates for Hamas and the Promise Party, and labouring over their similarity to Irish politicians.
Crowley, reporting for Morning Ireland, has tried to explain the local intricacies, which makes it an even greater pity that the supposed Irish angle should be wheeled out so reflexively.
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But the problem is widespread. Matt Cooper (The Last Word, Today FM) spoke to Vince Cannistrano, a former CIA security chief, about alleged breaches of the Geneva convention. The focus was firmly domestic: the use of Shannon by American troops, the assurances given by the US government, and implications for Irish neutrality.
This is an Irish story too, of course, but it’s parochial to insist on viewing the subject solely through our little local lens. It’s also an insult to the audience’s intelligence: it assumes that the general public is only interested in world news if a local connection can be made.
Items such as McNeill on Japan demonstrate that this is not necessarily the case. But without any Irish angle, however tenuous, such stories tend to be presented as a kind of light relief. They are seen as exotic anecdotes.
In any case, looking for Irish connections is deeply old-fashioned. It’s what your grandparents used to do, back when the world was mapped by Irish emigrants and missionaries. Radio does not have to cling to the old parochialism.