Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

I was out in the recently reopened Laughter Lounge in Dublin last week. One of the comedians on the night really highlighted the fact that the media seem hell bent on keeping the public in a state of fear. Open the papers any day of the week and there will be a prominent story on terrorism, yob culture or the latest health epidemic.

The latest story to do the rounds is the Avian Flu. Who thought we would ever see the day where an article about a dead duck would make the front page of a newspaper? The sad thing is though in a year’s time we’ll be saying ‘Avian who?’ Don’t believe me? The comedian on the night joked about whatever happened to SARS.

The BBC reports that “the Social Market Foundation (SMF), an independent research group, has accused the UK media of sensationalising science.” The SMF suggests that “irresponsible reporting can undermine public confidence in science and government, and on issues like vaccination may even cost lives.“

The really interesting thing I noted on the night out though was this comedian was doing a far better job for the poultry industry than any PR practitioner. RTE reported a 20% drop in Irish poultry sales on Saturday. This is a factor which could impact a number of industries across the country. While a lot of people are speculating on what the best communications response is for the government, I think more people should be concerned how this will impact our economy.

From a communications perspective this is a really awkward situation to deal with because of the number of factors involved. If the government tries to play down the public’s fears they will be accused of lacking foresight should the disease transfer to humans. While the poultry industry may take steps to reassure consumers about the safety of their products, their competitors will move in to try and boost their market share at the poultry industry’s expense.

As the RTE report suggests, Irish free range producers are the best equipped to deal with the current crisis. Those producers should use the fact that Ireland is an island on the outskirts of Europe and highlight their production methods to quell the public’s fears and to showcase their products.

In the meantime the SMF has made a number of recommendations that the Irish media and PR practitioners would do no harm paying attention to:

• Newspapers and broadcasters should employ more science graduates
• Scientists and science graduates should be encouraged to undertake media training

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