“The Genie is out of the bottle” Why we all want to be heard

The 14^th annual Cleraun Media Conference took place this weekend in Dublin and this young reporter learned a valuable life lesson that journalists will never be above the law.

“Your integrity triumphs everything” says Dearbhaíl McDonald Legal Editor of The Irish Independent “Retaining integrity in the pursuit of what we do”. These are wise words from a much respected character in the diaspora of Irish journalism.

In an age where social media seems to be triumphing traditional media, the notion of integrity within journalism was raised by Dearbhaíl McDonald at the Professional Integrity and Ethics Journalism Conference.

It led to the questioning of my own notion of integrity. As I sat listening to much respected faces in Irish journalism, I began to question how far I would be willing to go to get the “scoop”. Sitting in a room with respected senior journalists who possess a certain aura of stage presence is a life lesson in itself to observe their natural flare for an impromptu Q and A session.

Integrity, ethics, and consent: just three of the words that floated around a room; a room filled with different notions of what journalistic integrity should or should not be.

“Our consent is never consciously sought” says Alan Gilsenan, speaking in relation to his own findings as a documentary maker. ‘A time to die’ has been the latest offering from Mr Gilsenan documentary work.

He spoke poignantly and honestly about his work on ‘The Asylum’ and where his sense of integrity came into question. The character of George was illustrated to the enthralled audience, as Alan spoke.

“We all want to be heard” says Alan and through his yearlong work with patients suffering from mental illness in Ireland, Alan felt his work was given a voice to those who for years had been marginalised on the periphery of Irish society because mental illness was seen as taboo.

‘George’ was one such man who featured and one Alan Gilsenan clearly built a personal connection with, after all he was one of the stars of the documentary. In building a relationship it’s not about the “pre nup”; the pet name Alan placed on release forms for creating such documentaries. Instead it’s about letting people tell their stories.

Alan faced one of the most challenging aspects as a journalist, a documentary maker, but most of all as a person. George decided he did not want to be featured in ‘The Asylum’ after a year of building this relationship it now hung in the balance.

The tragedy in this tale is that George passed away days before the documentary went to air, and there was the opportunity for ‘Georges’ life to be remembered on camera and a long lost relative wanted to sign a release form that went against a wish George had outlined before his death.

“Retaining integrity in the pursuit of what we do” echoes in my head at this point and I wonder what would I have done in this instance?

Alan Gilsenan retained his professional and personal integrity by leaving George out of the documentary and respecting the dying wishes of a man who was not just a character anymore but instead a friend.

Through time we create a trust with people, can the same be said about integrity? The emergence of Social media leads me to wonder has the traditional sense of integrity been outdated much the same as in how traditional media appears to becoming outdated?

“The Levinson enquiry will shape the future” says Séamus Dooley NUJ. He described it like a production of Downtown Abbey. Hugh Linehan raised the question of why it all came to the forum now.

Ombudsman Emily O’ Reilly made probably the most valid point describing the fall-out from the phone-hacking scandal involving the murder of Millie Dowler as one of the greatest personal tragedies that struck real people.

Millie was a child, a daughter and a sister. This is something that relates to everyone. It wasn’t about seeing the invasion of privacy of a celebrity; it was about a child who was murdered.  That is reality.

This is one of the greatest losses of integrity in the industry, we as journalists strive to maintain. “There are times gross invasions of privacy are needed” said Dearbhaíl McDonald. She spoke in relation to the Lee’s Cross scandal which she believes was “Manifestly in the public interest”

Sunday World columnist Paddy Murray was different than what I had expected, a warm and witty man, he entertained the room for a few moments in a break from the hard stuff but offered up something that is so important in this career; common cutesy and politeness.

There is not just one problem or one solution to already existing issues in Journalism, a common consensus from many leading Irish Journalists.

“The Gennie is out of the bottle” said Mark Tight, Social media is upon us, The Children’s referendum is approaching, and soon media regulation will change journalistic dynamics. Integrity if lost early in one’s career and even lost in one’s life, is not easily regained. We all want to be heard, but at what cost. Do we sacrifice our integrity; think from the heart instead of the head. Decisions every journalist must make for themselves.